Merely Shepherds
by Waywatcher
Summary: It started with a blue-haired prince, his sister, and their loyal knight. It grew into a small squad, with a warrior from the slums, two cavaliers of varying class, an aristocratic troubadour, a silent protector, and a studious mage. Two trainees were soon taken on: a natural prodigy of magic, and a warrior of the skies. All that they needed was a tactician. They got two.
1. Discovery

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.**

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#####

"This is it! Our final battle! #####, Reflet, you're both one of us, no 'destiny' can change that!" The blue-haired man says, looking between me and the girl standing by my side. "Now, let's kill this dastard and be done with it!"

I feel myself nodding, despite having little idea what's going on. My body moves on its own to pull out a powerful tome: Thoron. The girl next to me, who I instinctively know is my sister Reflet (despite us looking nothing alike), takes a large silver axe off her back and nods as well.

"Ha ha ha! Why do you resist?" A tall, grey-skinned man cackles. Purple magic swirls around his body in clouds, which crackle with energy.

My mouth curls into a cocky smile, and I launch a massive bolt of lightning at the man. It flies across the room in a flash and smashes directly into the sorcerer, which causes him to stagger a bit. Despite his confidence, he doesn't seem quite as powerful as one might expect.

My sister and Chorm prefer the more physical approach, and charge the sorcerer flat-out. The grey-skinned man recovers enough to attempt an attack: a fast flying could of black energy that explodes on impact; but Chrom easily side-steps the strike and my sister, not being the target, is fine with taking minor damage from the edge of the explosion.

The sorcerer doesn't get to attempt another blast, as Chrom closes in and forces the man to start dodging lest he be sliced in half. Reflet soon joins, bringing her axe down in much slower strikes that are even _more_ easily dodged, but would surely kill in a single blow should they connect.

With me providing ranged support, the combination of three opponents proves too much for the sorcerer. Chrom gets a hit on the man's chest, I land another Thoron strike, and Reflet finally lands her attack, her axe embedding itself deep into the mans chest.

"Not over..." The sorcerer rasps, black blood coming from his mouth, "damn you all!"

I think that's the Vengeance technique. Credit to the man here, I don't think I could cast a giant-ass ball of hellfire with an axe in my chest.

Reflet acts quickly, all but tackling Chrom to the floor so that the fireball flies over their heads. Despite my penchant for speed, _I_ can't dodge it like they could, and it nails me in the chest. Later, I would swear it followed me when I tried to avoid it.

As one might assume, coherent thought becomes quite the issue after being hit with a giant fireball. I'm much too busy trying to not scream in pain as I flail on the floor.

To my relief, the fire fades on it's own. Chorm and Reflet are quick to run over and hoist me to my feet, each looping an arm under one of my shoulders.

"Are you all right?" Chrom asks, glancing me over. "That's the end of him. Thanks to you we carried the day. We can rest easy now. At long last..."

That was a jinx if I ever heard one, and the universe seems to agree. My vision swims before me, throbbing red and purple as I stagger. Chrom and my sister make noises of concern, but Chrom is abruptly cut off mid-sentence.

It's not until my vision clears that I see the bolt of electric power in Chrom's chest, protruding like a dagger, and the matching sparks of magic still wreathing my hand. The connection isn't hard to make, and I can feel panic wash through my system.

"This is not your – your fault..." Chrom rasps, clutching at his chest. "Promise me you'll escape from this place... Please, go!"

As I back away from the corpse now lying at my feet, the dead sorcerer's laughter fills my ears, I can't tell if it's some magic, a curse perhaps, or if I'm hallucinating, and I grip my head as I make a mad dash for the exit.

My escape is short-lived as a shadow falls over me, causing me to whip around, and the last thing I see before blacking out is the blade of a silver axe directed at my head.

###

"Chrom... We have to do _something._ " A girl's voice, high and young, sounds in my ears.

"What do you propose we do?" Another voice, a familiar voice... Yes, the one from my dream, the blue-haired man. Chrom.

I force open my eyes, prompting a gasp from the girl in front of me. I didn't even know I had my eyes closed at all, strange as that sounds. Then again, I don't seem to know a whole lot of anything at the moment.

"I see you're awake now." The blue-haired man says quietly.

"Hey there..." The girl whispers. Now that I can actually see, I can tell my guess of her being young was accurate. Her skin is a pale peach colour, and her eyes sparkle turquoise. She has blond hair tied in pigtails by the means of... buttons? Aside from that, she has a yellow dress supported by a crinoline. There are other details I could mention, but that's the gist.

Chrom is much more straight-forward. Aside from the short, dark-blue hair, his skin matches the girl next to him. He wears mostly blue, but has a white cape and thigh-high boots, one white, one blue, that end in metal shoes. Curiously, one shoulder is bare, showing an odd mark on his shoulder, while the other bears a metal pauldron.

"There are better places to take a nap than on the ground you know." Chrom smirks. "Give me your hand."

I comply, reaching up a hand. I catch a glimpse of something on my, a mark of my own, as the man pulls me up.

"Are you all right?" He asks.

"Yeah," I nod, glancing over myself. "Thanks Chrom."

So, it would seem I'm pale-skinned and quite thin. I think I have white hair, if that's not a feather dangling from my head, and (best of all) I have an _awesome_ coat. Seriously, it's a shin-length black coat with purple highlight and gold trim, and I _love_ it! I must have good taste in clothes.

"Ah, so you know who I am?" Chrom asks, minorly surprised.

"Uh... Kinda?" Unfortunately that's the best I can come up with. How does one explain that I know him from a dream when I don't even know my own past...

Wait, wait. I don't know my own _past_?! What the hell universe?! Fuck you! Seriously?! Ugh... So what _do_ I know? Let's see... I know this man's name is Chrom, I know I have an awesome coat, I know I have a sister named Reflet...

"Reflet!" I shout, glancing around. "Where is she? She was here, right?"

"Pardon?" A new voice asks. "We found you alone, and do not think you can distract us from the fact that you recognize milord."

This guy is a knight, no other way to put it. He's decked out in blue and white armour, and I think I can see the collar of a suit underneath... Otherwise, his skin matches the other two, and he has short cut, brown hair and eyes of similar colour.

"Hey! I don't know why! I barely remember anything at all!" I protest, waving my arms out to my sides.

"Hey, I've heard of this! It's called amnesia!" Lissa gasps.

"It's called a load of pegasus dung." Fredrick corrects with a hard look towards myself. Addressing me again, he says "we're to believe you remember milord's name but not your own life?"

"Uh, _yes_!" I say, thinking this to be obvious. "Why would I _not_ expect you to believe the _truth_?"

"We need to take the risk that he's lying Fredrick. If he does have amnesia, we can't very well leave him here, alone and confused. What sort of Shepherds would we be then?" Chorm admonishes. "Besides, maybe if we help him find this 'Reflet' she can provide some answers for us."

"Just the same, milord, I must emphasize caution. 'Twould not do to let a wolf into our flock." Fredrick warns.

"Right then." Chrom nods. "We'll take him back to town and sort this out there."

"Hey! Don't I have a say in this?!" I protest.

"Peace friend." Chrom makes a placating gesture. "I promise we'll hear all you have to say back in town. Now come, we must be off."

VIRION

Unexpected distractions are nothing new to myself. I pride myself on seizing the moment, especially when it comes to women. Usually though, the lady in question is awake to appreciate my illustrious self, and not lying face-down in the centre of the road...

The lady in question is not the norm for such parts of Ylisse. She seems to be Feroxi based on her dark skin, but the white hair and her clothes (a long coat with purple highlights and gold trim that seems to lack buttons, surprisingly clean bandages tied around her chest, and baggy white pants) suggest Plegian origin. Quite the mystery. At least she doesn't seem to be injured.

I doubt it would reflect well on myself to carry around an unconscious woman, especially considering that her coat doesn't cover her all that well, but just leaving her here would be highly dishonourable as well. I suppose I must take the hit to my reputation.

Unfortunately, she isn't quite as light as I hoped. She's not large, but muscled. The giant iron axe doesn't help any either. After a minute or two of struggling, I manage to lift her onto my back and arrange her axe so that it won't split my skull as I walk. I need to move my bow and arrows as well, lest they be damaged under her weight.

"My word..." I mutter to myself, staggering as I almost trip over a hole in the road. "This will be a most difficult trip indeed..."

With the added burden of carrying another, it takes a good three hours to stumble my way (elegantly!) into town. As predicted, I get many a strange look carrying around the lady on my shoulders, but I do my best to bear there suspicion gracefully... Which is rather challenging since I could not walk upright if I tried at the moment, so I look more like a hunchback than a noble.

" _So much for a good impression here._ " I sigh. " _The things I do for the fairer sex... Not that I wouldn't have helped a man, but it's much more poetic to say it that way._ "

I trudge my way to a nearby inn, dropping the owner a few coins to use one of his rooms. I receive a suspicious look, but he lets me in when I explain my intentions to be only pure... and hand him a few more coins.

Carrying the lady up to the room, I nudge open the door and place her gently on the bed. After I turn and close the door, I collapse right next to her.

"My word." I huff. "Th-That was not as effortless as it usually is."

There's more I could be doing right now: looking for help, making my way to Ylisstol, but I think a bit of rest is in order. Just for a moment, or a minute, or a few hours...

Completely spent for my efforts, I drift off; within the minute, I'm asleep.

* * *

 **So, uh, hi. I've seen so many retellings of Awakening with their respective twists and adaptations, this is just me throwing my metaphorical hat into the ring. Hello to anyone who came here from** ** _Five Stars_** **where I mentioned this story would be coming, glad you could join me! We'll get to fun character interactions eventually; just got to get the basics out of the way here.**

 **I was a bit stuck on how to get Reflet into the story. In the first draft of this chapter, I just had her appear beside Robin (or ##### for the moment. I wanted to do five question marks, but the website wouldn't let me), but that made the whole intro sequence a bit awkward, so I scrapped it. Instead, I'm using Virion (which is still awkward, but better than before). This way I can stagger introductions a bit, which is useful rather than having a whole five man band right off the bat.**

 **Hope to hear from those of you reading this, be you from one of my other stories or new to me entirely. It feels weird not to have any reviews to respond to...**


	2. Tagging Along

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.**

 **If you read the little introduction I had in my profile, you know Robin was described as 'insane'. Last chapter was not a very good portrayal of that, I just needed to get the basics out of the way. This chapter should be far more representative of what Robin is like.**

 **Also, some extremely minor changes to the first chapter that I overlooked in my rush to post it.**

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FREDRICK

We should never have let this man come along. He's practically the embodiment of the word 'suspicious'. Not only does he look Plegian due the embroidery on his coat and his white hair, he has the _convenient_ excuse of amnesia to explain away any possible wrongdoings in his past, and to garner pity so that we will take care of him.

Yet my warnings go unheeded, and milord still insists on helping this man. I won't be so easily convinced however, I will stay vigilant. He will need to do much better to convince me that he is truly what he claims.

That is not the worst thing though. No, far from it. The absolute worst part of all this-

"Hey, Freddy, do you have thread? Chrom has a giant sewing needle, and Lissa has buttons, so you must have thread right?"

-is that he is utterly insane.

"No, I do not have thread." I say, trying to remain calm. "For the last time, we are _not_ a sewing club."

"But you call yourselves shepherds right? So you must have sheep, and wool comes from sheep, and you can probably use wool to sew, and Chrom has the giant needle and Lissa has the giant buttons, so therefor you _must_ have the giant thread!" The man asserts. "Show us the thread Fred!"

Rather than responding, I grumble, "Milord, you should never have let him look at Falchion."

"Hey, he has a point. The hole in the blade _does_ make it look like a sewing needle." Milady giggles.

"Not just any sewing needle!" He cries. "Don't think I wasn't paying attention! Chrom said it was a _magic_ sewing needle!"

"Actually, I said was a divine blade." Milord corrects. He is actually _smiling_ at this man's ramblings!

" _Divine_ sewing needle!" The man shouts, "I know your sinister plan is to conquer the world by uniting sewing clubs everywhere with your divine needle! And now that I know, I'll be captured… BY FRED AND HIS GIANT THREAD!" He whips around and points at me.

"For the last time, I do _not_ have thread with me." I say through gritted teeth. "Stop your irrational accusations."

"They're perfectly rational!" He protests. "Needle plus buttons plus thread equals sewing club! Chrom is needle, Lissa is buttons, so you must be thread!"

"That is logically fallacious." I retort. "Deduction does not work that way."

"Lighten up Fredrick." Milady giggles. "He's just joking around."

"That does not make his behaviour acceptable." I sigh.

"I am _not_ joking!" The man yells, face scrunched up in a pout. "You drag me along like your prisoner, and you expect me _not_ to be a pain? I will struggle against the tyranny of your sewing club!"

Milord snorts in amusement. "Peace friend, you'll be free to go once we've established you're no threat to Ylisse."

"Who's Ylisse? There's no one else here, is she invisible?" The man starts feeling the air around him, searching for the imaginary invisible person.

"Ylisse is a kingdom." Milady explains with a smile. " _This_ kingdom."

"The term is 'Halidom' Milady." I correct. "We have no king."

"Whatever. Same thing." The princess waves it off

"And you," I glare at the man, "you expect us to believe that you have never heard of the halidom?"

"Peace Fredrick." Milord says, making a calming gesture with him hand. "This land is known as the Halidom of Ylisse. Our ruler, Emmeryn, is called the exalt. I suppose proper introductions are in order by now… My name is Chrom, though you already knew that, the delicate one here is Lissa-"

"I am not delicate!" Milady pouts.

"-and the one giving you a hard time is Fredrick the Wary."

"A title I shall wear with pride." I huff. "Gods forbid one of us keep an appropriate level of caution. I have every wish to trust you stranger, but my station demands otherwise."

"Ah." The man blinks. His intensity seems to fade a bit. "So _not_ crazy sewing people?"

"No, not crazy sewing people." Milord smiles. "Though I can't speak for Lissa. She's dangerous with a needle."

"That was one time!" Milady groans. "C'mon Chrom!"

"Luckily for us all, she seldom decides to use her-" Milady promptly whacks her brother on the shoulder with her staff. "Okay, okay! Stopping now!"

Taking a look at the map in one of the bags my mare carries, I report. "We've almost arrived at town."

"Indeed." Milord nods, smiling.

"Uh, guys…" Milady says nervously, pointing ahead of us. "Is that smoke?"

The princess is not wrong; columns of smoke rise us from beyond the hill in front of us.

"Brigands." Milord grimaces. "Fredrick, Lissa, quickly!"

"What about him?" Milady squeaks as I hoist her onto my horse.

Milord glances to the stranger as I help him up. "Unless he's on fire, he can wait."

"Aptly put, let us be off." I nod, taking my own place and flicking the reins.

"We'll come back!" Milady shouts back to the man as we charge off towards the town. He yells something back in response, but we are too far gone to hear him by this point.

I narrow my eyes, focusing on the task ahead of us. We can't get distracted worrying about this stranger now. As Milady says, we will come back later. Right now, we have brigands to slay.

SULLY

I can't believe those three went on patrol without me! I leave for two days to visit family, and come back to find them gone! And those three know I've been itching to go back out, I don't care if they think I'm 'overexerting' myself, I like going on patrol! I can't be resting when there's brigands roaming the countryside!

That's why I'm riding around on my horse looking for them. At least they planned out their course beforehand, so I know where they've been and where they plan to go. They should have passed this town about a day ago, and should be staying at Southtown tonight, which is about six hours from here and just close enough for me to travel to today.

"Milady, please!"

If I can just get this guy to leave me alone…

"Just shove off! I can't help you!" I snap, glowering at this blue-haired pain in the ass. "I ain't magic, I can't cure anemia!"

"Am _nesia_." The man corrects in an exasperated tone. "She's an amnesiac, and sure you at least know _someone_ who could help if you yourself cannot!"

This man, 'Virion' I think it was, looks and speaks the part of a noble, which makes this situation all the more suspicious. I could imagine a villager taking pity on some poor sod and asking me to help them, but a noble? Beyond those in the Shepherds, most nobles aren't particularly well known for their charity. Besides, if he's a noble, he should know people himself that could help.

"Ruffles, I'll be straight with you, I don't believe a word you're saying. You want me to believe that someone who's clearly a noble took pity on some random plegian girl lying on the road and hauled her to the nearest town? Not only that, you want me to believe that she doesn't have any memory, and that you don't have the resources to help? That's about as unlikely as it gets." I say bluntly.

"You make it sound like nobles are heartless!" Ruffles scoffs. "I am, and always have been, a man of charity! I could not just leave the lady to suffer! Besides, plausibility is not the issue here, I speak only of the reality! I am in a bit of a spot myself, hence why I beseech your aid!"

Throughout this whole conversation, the lady in question hasn't spoken a word. Instead, she's just been staring at us with a completely blank expression. It was only earlier when I asked her if Virion was telling the truth that she nodded, but otherwise she hasn't done much of anything. I question why she's hauling an axe around as well. She doesn't look like a brigand, her clothes (odd as they might be) are too well-kept, but she's suspicious nonetheless.

I really want to just leave these two, but I know Chrom would disapprove. Ugh… I'm going to have to drag these two along, won't I?

"You know what? Fine." I snap, still glaring. "I'll take you to the captain, maybe he'll be able to help. I hope those weapons of yours aren't for show though, there's been tales of bandits around here!"

If I was hoping to scare them off, I failed horribly. "My most deepest thanks milady." Ruffles says, bowing dramatically. "You will find me most helpful. I was called 'the archest of the archers' for a reason!"

"I can fight." The girl says, catching me by surprise. Her voice is higher than I expected. I thought it would be rough and deep, befitting her large, muscled frame, but it's actually rather melodic and smooth. "The axe isn't for show."

I grit my teeth, resigned to taking these two along. "My horse wasn't trained to hold three people, one of you walks."

Virion's shoulders droop a bit, even if he's smiling. "I… It would be wrong to ask the lady to walk, I shall endure."

I think he's trying to convince himself more than us.

"No." The girl says, turning her head to stare Ruffles in the eye. "I will walk."

"But milady-"

"I'm fine." She cuts Virion off. "I think I've done this before."

"I-If you insist." The man stammers, taken aback. "If it becomes too much, do allow me to take your place! I will gladly give up my seat!"

The girl just nods, and looks to me.

"Well, if that's sorted, let's move." I grunt. "I've got places I want to be, so don't slow me down too much!"

* * *

 **So, this chapter should give you a bit better of an idea of what Robin is like. Again, the last chapter was slightly misleading because I needed to get all the basic stuff out of the way.**

 **It was a bit difficult thinking up the reason why Sully would let Virion and Reflet tag along. I eventually decided that I would be the whole 'knights help the weak' thing that would more or less** _ **force**_ **Sully to let them tag along if she didn't want to waste more time finding Chrom.**

 **Hi Jaalk.**


	3. Combat

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.

#####

It turns out that I'm pretty fast. Like a human lightning bolt I streak across the ground, shocking all who watch me and my blinding speed!

Hehe, get it? Shocking? Streak? Blinding? Lightning puns? Yeah, I know, I'm great.

But unfortunately, speed does not necessarily mean endurance. I am fast, not endurant, so by the time I arrive at the village the others ran off to, I'm totally out of breath. The smoke certainly doesn't help either, causing me to cough violently.

"Who boy…" I mutter when my coughing fit stops. "Let's not do that again."

Looking around, I can already see evidence of combat. Several bulky men lie dead on the streets with stab wounds or long cuts across their bodies, clearly the work of Chrom and Fredrick. I take a moment to search the bodies, grabbing coin purses and whatever else might be useful. I know we're supposed to respect the dead and all that, but surely I can respect them after I take their stuff, right?

Ohh… This is shiny! One of these bandits, a bit thinner and more well-kept than the others, has a yellow book- tome, right, my brain tells me these are called tomes, with a lightning bolt on it. It feels tingly, I think I'll just nab this…

I think it's a weapon. Probably good to have a backup for my sword.

"Oh hey! That's Lissa!" I perk up, noticing the girl running down the street. "Hi Lissa!" I wave cheerily.

"We need to move!" She yells back. When she gets close, she grabs my arm and starts dragging me along. "What are you doing here? Augh, this keeps getting worse, we need to find Chrom and Fredrick!"

"I thought they were with you." I say. "Sewing club members stay together right?"

"They were with me." She pants. "Until Chrom almost got his head cut off and Fred ran off to save him, and then I got chased away by some of the bandits."

"Bandits huh." I muse. "Like those scruffy dead guys?"

"Yeah, except not dead." She says, stopping suddenly and pulling us between two houses. There are footsteps, and several people run by. Lissa is right, they are just as scruffy, and remarkably alive.

"So." I say with a smile. "I found this." I show her the tome.

Lissa gives me a weird look. "Do you even know how to use that?"

"I dunno. Maybe?" I shrug. "It was shiny. Just like these coins I found."

"You were looting?" She says in exasperation. "Just our luck, we saved a thief."

"Well I figured they weren't using it." I say, "I mean, they're kinda dead after all."

"You can't just steal things!" Lissa pouts, glaring at me.

"And why not Little Bird?" A gruff voice says.

We both turn to see one of the big scruffy guys standing over us. He has this funny grin on his face, like someone's painting his picture and he has to smile but doesn't want too. Lissa doesn't seem to think it's funny though, she's kinda pale…

"Hi there!" I say cheerily, waving to the man. "You're a fellow looter, right?"

The man blinks at me, surprised for some reason. "A hierophant? Why are you here?"

Oh, seems like I've stumbled upon something. Let's see what I can get out of this. "Looting, killing, having fun." I say casually, guessing at what he expects to hear.

The man seems to like this and his grin widens. "Well fancy that, we're doing just the same. Fancy helping us out here? We got a bit of a problem with a certain blue blood."

"Just lead me to him." I say, dusting myself off. "Always wanted to kill a noble." I gesture to Lissa, waving her along. "Come along little girl."

"Ain't she one of them?" The man asks suspiciously, fingering the large axe on his shoulder.

"Was. Mine now." I say, waving him off. "Dark magic, you know how it is."

"Just like that?" His eyes narrow.

"Just like that." I nod. It sounds weak even to me, so I try to bullshit a reason. "You seriously think a wimpy girl like her can stand up to the magic of a hierophant?" I straighten my back and furrow my brow a bit, hoping to come off as a bit more imposing. We'll ignore the fact that I don't know what a hierophant is.

"Prove it." The man snaps. "Make her do something."

I roll my eyes, though this is just to buy a second so I can think of something I could get Lissa to do that wouldn't totally freak her out. "Alright, alright." I look over to Lissa, noting how pale she is now and the way her jaw is clenched. I figure she's only one step from a full on panic attack. I need something relatively tame. "Girl, sit."

Lissa complies, and shakily sits down on the floor.

"Roll over."

She is clearly holding back a grimace as she complies. Her crinoline catches on the cobble, which makes the maneuver even more awkward.

"Beg."

"Please don't hurt me…" She whimpers out. I resist the urge to flinch and hold my calm expression.

"Not exactly what I meant, but that works." I shrug, turning to the man. I'm internally cringing at her distress. "That enough proof for you?"

"Alright." He grunts. "Follow me."

I motion for Lissa to follow, and she shakily stands up. Rather than have her trail along behind us, I throw an arm around her shoulder to ensure she walks along beside me. She tenses at the action.

"Just chill." I whisper out of the side of my mouth. "I'm still on your side here."

She just nods, seeming a bit numb.

I squeeze her shoulder, trying to reassure her as we are led to an opening. We're actually behind Chrom and Fredrick, who seem to be facing off with the bandits' leader. (I can tell because he has more wolf fur around his neck, and he's even uglier than everyone else!)

"Alright then." I grunt, removing my arm and pulling out the thunder tome I nabbed earlier. "Let's do this." and by that I mean hopefully I can use magic and won't make a fool of myself. I glance at the man. "On your mark."

He licks his lips, a gleam in his eyes. "Mark!" He yells, dashing forward towards the unprotected rear of the two Shepherds.

I casually reach out, channelling the magic from the tome. Sparks dance across my palm, and, with vengeful glee, I let it shoot out, nailing the man in the back. He goes sprawling to the floor just behind Fredrick, who spares him only a glance before thrusting his spear through the man's head.

"Oops, I missed." I say cheekily, elbowing Lissa. I'm not sure how much Lissa hears, because she makes a mad run for her brother as soon as I finish speaking. I, on the other hand, casually saunter up behind her, smiling as she and her brother share a hug while Fredrick circles them protectively. "Hey guys!"

"Oh, it's you." Chrom grunts, gently pushing Lissa off. "You saved Lissa?"

"Yep." I grin. "I was damn clever about it too."

"You really scared me." Lissa laughs nervously, turning to face me. "I couldn't tell how serious you where the whole time."

"Aww, come on, you think someone as awesome as me would stoop to banditry?" I chuckle.

"You did loot dead bodies." She points out.

"They're not using it." I protest. "Plus, the tome helped, right?"

"I guess…" She mumbles.

"Either way, thank you." Chrom smiles. "Now, let us finish the rest of them."

"Gladly." I smirk, flipping open my new tome again.

"If you are both ready." Fredrick snaps, eyeing the group of bandits that had assembled around their leader while we were talking. "Let us resume. Stay behind me."

"Stay in the middle this time Lissa." Chrom says, picking up his sword. "Shepherds, let's move!"

I'm not sure if I've ever been in a proper fight, but it feels almost natural. Even slinging spells seems familiar to me. With Fredrick pulling everyone's attention, it's easy for me to get off free shots. When a bandit manages to slip by the metal wall that is Fred, me and Chrom jump him. I finally get to use my sword as Chrom skewers the chest while I slice the neck.

Lissa proves her worth by keeping Fredrick and Chrom in fighting form. I didn't notice the staff before, but it's hard to miss now with that glowing ball on the top.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see a flash of light. I call out "duck!" as the fireball comes roaring overhead.

My warning comes just in time, and Fredrick manages to stoop low enough for the attack to miss. It comes at the cost of a few nicks as axes clang off the side of his armor, but it's better than taking a fireball to the chest.

Knowing that Fredrick won't be able to get to the mage with everyone else in his way, I take it upon myself to take the man out. I dash forward, ducking under the swing of a barbarian. A quick jump allows me to plant my hands on his shoulders and vault over his head. I don't even bother to look back as I move on, trusting my speed to keep me safe.

With a (mostly) clear path to the mage, I use my other hand to tug out my tome and let loose a shot. It zips through the air, landing on it's target, but only does minimal damage. The mage obviously notices, and directs his next attack at me.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit." I panic. Acting on instinct, I pull my arm back and swing forward, throwing my sword at the man. It doesn't connect, but forces him to stop channeling and leap to the side. I don't waste a second and dive at him, knocking us both to the ground.

The resulting fistfight is surprisingly one-sided, as he lacks any experience in melee and I seem to know some sort of wrestling. Managing to overpower him, I hoist the man up in the air and throw him to the side, sending him tumbling into a ditch and into the water running through it.

I quickly stoop down and grab the tome he dropped, no sense in wasting a perfectly good weapon, right? Now I have two shiny books!

Maybe it was my focus on the mage, but I don't notice the axe before it's too late. The head bites into my back, just off-center from my spine, and I go crashing to the ground. I can faintly hear someone yelling, probably Lissa, if the high pitch is any indication, but I'm a bit too distracted by the pain.

Guess what? Pain sucks, it really does. Imagine you're dying, because that's exactly what this kind of pain means! My vision is too fuzzy to see, my right arm isn't responding, and I'm too disoriented to do anything useful, and the pain; blinding, burning, horrible pain…

LISSA

Everything was going fine until that mage showed up. Then the new guy went nuts, charging through all the bandits (with some cool acrobatics I must admit) to tackle said mage, and then getting an axe to the back for his trouble. And as much as he might scare me, I don't want him dead.

Thank the gods for Fredrick, who charges right through the throng to scoop the dying man onto his horse. Nobody can even touch Freddy as he easily slices down any and everyone in range. He only spares a moment to drop the man off at my feet before diving right back into the fight.

"Oh come on." I murmur, lighting up my staff. "Please be fine."

"I'm… more than fine." He grunts, surprisingly still conscious. "Got a new shiny..." He weakly nods to the new red tome held under his arm.

"You almost got yourself killed for a tome?" I groan. "What are we going to do with you?"

"Praise me?" He suggests, smiling weakly.

I only glare at him. "I'll praise you when you don't almost kill yourself over something stupid."

"Well, he would have been a problem if one of us didn't get rid of him…" He mumbles, wincing as bones in his body crack and reassemble themselves. "So, with Fred occupied, I figured I should help."

"My problem isn't that you went after him, just bring my brother next time or something!" I say in exasperation. "No diving in alone! You're not Fredrick!"

"That's pretty obvious to me now." He grunts. My staff stops glowing, having finished it's work, and he instantly jumps to his feet. "Right! Better now! Let's kick more ass! Fire and explosions ahoy!"

"You're crazy." I groan. "Don't get yourself killed."

"Right, kill everyone else first, got it." He nods rapidly, "okay, see ya, things to do, people to kill, you know how it is."

I watch, worried, as he runs off towards the throng of people. I'm relieved when he takes up a position next to my brother rather than doing something stupid again. He gives me several scares when he narrowly dodges other attacks by ducking or turning his body at the last second. He even flat-out jumps over a few attacks, gaining surprising height despite his heavy coat and kicking people in the head as he drops.

"Even the way he fights is crazy." I mutter, shaking my head. "I hope this ends soon so Fredrick can knock some sense into him…"

VIRION

"All hail me." I say, letting my arrow fly smoothly from my bow and bury itself in the ruffian's skull. "Yet another fabulous shot from the archest of archers!"

"I get it already, you can shoot!" Sully snaps, stabbing another man with her lance. "Now shut up!"

"Ah, but my point has not yet been made." I say dramatically, pulling another arrow from my quiver. "I cannot have you accusing me of slacking now that I have proven myself, and as such I must draw attention to each glorious shot!"

"Watch your back." Our third companion's says suddenly, prompting me to (elegantly) spin around. The axe aimed at my head is stopped by the girl's timely intervention, and she shoves the man back before smashing him in the face with the flat of her own axe. A quick shot from me ends the man's yelling. "More to the left. Tougher than these ones, take care."

"Of course milady, Virion is nothing if not careful." I say with a gentlemanly bow.

"Down." She says, roughly pushing me into the dirt as a bolt of lighting flies through the space I just occupied. Rather than let me stand on my own, she hauls me up and pulls us behind some trees as cover.

"What was that about being careful?" Sully taunts, pulling up alongside us.

"I cannot be perfect all the time." I cough, wiping dirt of my pants. "Besides, I am alright yes?"

She rolls her eyes as I prepare another shot. "Right, right. Just kill things and stay alive."

"I will do so with great zeal!" I cry, letting another arrow fly and killing the mage that shot at us. "They will die with magnificence!"

"That's the spirit!" Sully cries, charging forward and skewering the nearest foe. The height her horse grants allows her to easily hit her enemies while they struggle to swing high enough to hurt her.

The other girl is characteristically silent, but moves in alongside Sully, using her axe to deadly effect. Her advantage comes from brute strength and apathy, as she is fully willing to fight as dirty as needed to win. Point in case, she uses one of her downed foes as a meat shield to block the axe of another enemy before cutting his head off. Not the most noble of ways to fight, but very effective.

The three of us easily clean up the rest of the ruffians. I am almost entirely unscathed (thanks in no small part to the girl) while the others suffer some minor cuts. However, a vulnerary apiece quickly takes care of that.

"Well," Sully coughs, wiping her mouth, "looks like the bandits are just as bad as ever."

"Hmm…" The girl hums, digging through the pockets of our defeated enemies. She unabashedly takes all their money, and while Sully makes a face she doesn't comment. Curiously enough, the girl also takes the thunder tome that was used earlier, though she leaves all the axes alone.

"The captain should only be a few more hours away." Sully sighs, patting her horse's neck. "Let's break here for a few minutes, then we should be able to make the last stretch without too many problems."

The girl nods sits down against a tree, pulling out her sharpening tools and tending to her axe. Sully does much the same, instead feeding her horse first before dealing with her spear. This left me to collect arrows before gratefully slumping against a tree.

"My word, I am not suited for such rigor. I am far too used to having a horse to do my walking for me. Mayhaps I should see about getting one." I think, wiping my brow. "And perhaps I should avoid saying that out loud, or Sully will surely force me to walk the rest of the way. For such a lovely lady, she is certainly… forceful."

"Virion." The girl says, startling me out of my reverie. "What's this?" She holds out a small, painted figurine in the shape of an angel. She must have found it in one of the brigand's money pouches.

"Ah, that is what is known as a goddess icon. It is a figurine of a goddess from another continent, but they are still rather popular around the world as good luck tokens." I explain.

"Hmm..." The girl hums, staring at the figurine for a moment. "Take it."

"Pardon?"

"Take it." She thrusts it towards me. "Keep it on you."

"I-I am not one to believe in such superstitions." I stammer. "I t'was merely explaining."

"It's magic." She says firmly. "Keep it on you."

"Truly, it is not necessary!" I protest.

"Just take the damn thing!" Sully snaps. "You're a gentleman right? Can't refuse a gift from a lady and all that?"

"That is… correct." I sigh. Reluctantly, I take the icon from the girl. "My thanks."

"Good." She nods. "Keep you safe."

"I would have been just fine." I protest. "I am not so unskilled!"

"More luck never hurt anyone, especially someone as squishy as you." The girl says bluntly.

"Squishy!" I gasp, taken aback. "I am not squishy! I'll have you know it takes great strength and endurance to consistently fire a bow!"

She stares at me for a solid minute, causing me to squirm a bit. Eventually she speaks, saying "wrestle me."

"Wh-what!?" I sputter. "Th-That would be most undignified!"

"Arm wrestle then." She holds out an arm. "Sully, you tell us when to start."

"You got it." The knight says with a lazy grin. She's clearly enjoying this. "Come on Ruffles, humor the girl."

I still can't help but feel this is improper, but both ladies want me to participate, so I suppose I must. With great reluctance I bring my hand up to grasp hers. My delicate fingers contrast starkly with her calloused ones, both in construction and in color.

"Ready?" Sully asks. We both nod. "Alright then… Go!"

It's absolutely no contest. As much as I might wish to claim I won, or even held out for a while, that is not the case. I lose in less than two seconds as she easily overpowers me.

"So much for strength." Sully snickers. "All bark no bite, huh Ruffles?"

"See?" The girl says, staring at me. "Weak, relatively speaking at least. With only three of us, you might come into close combat should we fight again. Extra luck will hopefully get you out alive."

"I… alright." I relent. "My thanks for your concern, though do know that I have every confidence in the two of you to defend my… 'squishy' self."

"Nice to know you believe in us." Sully drawls. "Which totally wasn't the point of this."

"I know as much!" I protest. "I-"

"Yeah, yeah." Sully waves me off and pulls herself to her feet. "Lesson in humility and all that, I know. We should get going. We've wasted enough time as is."

A bit disgruntled, I pocket my new accessory and pull my things together. I climb up onto the back of Sully's horse and, once the girl packs away her new money, we leave, continuing on the path to southtown.


	4. Night Falls

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.**

* * *

CHROM

"Well that's that." I sigh, putting my sword away after the final bandit falls.

"Lucky for the town we were here!" Lissa chirps.

"And they have my _amazing_ self to thank!" The tactician brags, bowing to the crowd that has assembled. "Yes everyone, the tactician magician has saved you with his shiny books! Praise his greatness!"

"What are we, chopped liver?" Lissa scoffs. She cups her hands to her mouth and yells at the man, "stop bragging; Fredrick did most of the work!"

"But I did the cool stuff!" He retorts with a grin.

"You almost got yourself killed!"

"And I looked awesome doing it!"

"Enough, both of you!" Fredrick says firmly. Sighing, the knight turns to me. "Milord, did you notice? The brigands spoke with Plegian accents."

"Plegian?" The man perked up instantly. "What's that?"

"Plegia is Ylisse's westerly neighbour." I inform him.

"A loud, rude, and violent neighbour." Lissa huffs.

"Lissa, you know what Emm said about making them out as the enemy." I remind her. "Even if they do seem to be trying to provoke a war."

"I know, I know. 'Think peaceful thoughts' and all that." She grumbles. "But the townsfolk keep suffering because of them. Totally innocent, totally helpless…"

"Not totally." Fredrick says, raising his chin a bit. "They have us; Shepherds to protect the flock."

"People aren't sheep. You don't steal people's hair or eat them." The white-haired man frowns. "Unless you're… VAMPIRES!" He jumps back from us and falls into a poor copy of a martial arts stance, wearing an exaggerated expression of suspicion.

"At this rate he's going to accuse us of being everything in the dictionary before we get back home." Fredrick mutters under his breath. He looks over to me. "I assume you planned on taking him with us?"

"Would you have us lose such a capable fighter?" I ask, shrugging. "Plus," I whisper, "he's so reckless in a fight I'm worried about leaving him alone."

"That's funny coming from you Chrom." Lissa says, apparently having heard me. "How many training dummies did you break last week again?"

"That's not the point." I say. "And it was only five this time…"

"Milords!" A villager calls as he approaches, catching our attention. "Please, you must stay the night! We are simple folk, but we would gladly toast your valour with a feast!"

"A generous offer sir, but we must be on our way." Fredrick says. "It is imperative we hurry back to Ylisstol."

"I'll have dark meat and- hey, what do you mean we're leaving?!" Lissa whines. "It's almost dark!"

"Indeed. When night falls, we'll camp. Eat off the land, make a bed of twigs if need be. I believe you mentioned earlier that you would be 'getting used to this?'" Fredrick says with a calm smile that doesn't match his words.

"Sometimes I hate you Fredrick." Lissa grumbles in resignation. "Fine, let's get going…"

"Hey Lissa!" The white-haired man calls suddenly. Apparently he managed to get down the road and over to the town tavern in the time we weren't paying attention to him. "Bet you I can get to the top of this roof in only one jump!"

"Let's _not_ do that!" Lissa yells back. "We're leaving by the way, get over here!"

"Okay!"

"Milord, are you _positive_ you want to bring him along?" Fredrick asks through gritted teeth.

"Yes Fredrick, you're not changing my mind."

###

"I told you," Lissa gripes, "it's getting dark already! Eugh, and the bugs are out! Blech, ptooey!" My sister waves her hands around her head, swatting away the insects in question.

"Come on now Lissa, hardship builds character." I chuckle. "We'll be stopping soon, want to help me gather firewood?"

"No thank you! I've built quite enough character for one day, or a month even!" She says, glaring at me with a pout.

"We're gonna get food right?" The pale man says, looking at me expectantly. "Delicious, juicy, meaty food?"

"Yes, I do believe a little hunting and gathering is in order." Fredrick says, dismounting his mare. "Now, who wants to clear us a campsite?"

"Oh, oh, me!" The white-haired man cries, pulling his new fire tome out of his cloak. "I'll burn us a spot!"

"Erm, as much as we appreciate the enthusiasm... perhaps a method that _won't_ start a forest fire?" I suggest, ignoring the pointed look Fredrick gives me.

"Oh, right." He blinks, putting away his tome after a moment. "So… I should electrocute the area instead?"

"No magic." I say with a sigh.

"Aww…" He frowns. "Fiiine."

"Just keep an eye on Lissa and the horse while me and Fredrick hunt." I say, motioning for my second-in-command to follow me as I walk off to the forest, "we should be back in an hour or so with a meal of some sort."

"Here's hoping for boar!" The man says, waving us off. "Good luck!"

"Milord." Fredrick says, looking back over his shoulder. "Are you positive it is safe to leave him with Milady Lissa?"

"Hey Lissa, does whacking a rock with a tome 'till it explodes count as using magic?" The man asks.

" _Yes_. Please don't do that." My sister says in exasperation.

"Okay…"

"I didn't leave him to look after Lissa. I left Lissa to look after him." I chuckle, hearing their conversation. "Come on Fredrick. Let's get some food."

"A-ha!" The man exclaims, getting an idea. "He never said _you_ couldn't-!"

"No _._ " Lissa says firmly. "I'm not gonna use them either!"

"Aww…"

VIRION

"They already left." Sully says, walking out of the tavern. "Apparently they saved this place a few hours ago and started heading back to Ylisstol."

"Ah, such a shame." I sigh. "Shall we rest here for the night and catch them on the morrow?"

"Hell no! We're riding on as far as we can tonight!" The knight says, striding over to her horse. "Get up here Ruffles, we're leaving."

"It's almost dark." The white-haired girl to our left says flatly, looking at the fading sun. She's garnered several strange looks from the villagers, though no one has commented thus far. "We can't travel long."

"That's fine. I've got food we can eat." Sully shrugs. "Let's ride."

"I don't suppose I can talk you out of this?" I ask hopefully.

"Not a chance." She says. "Now get up here, or you're walking."

"Yes milady." I say resignedly, accepting the hand up. The white-haired girl falls in beside us as soon as we begin to move. " _I do hope Sully has more than one bedroll…_ "

###

"You only have one bedroll?" I ask, trying to keep the exasperation out of my voice. "Pray tell, do you expect us to sleep on the ground?"

"Well excuse me." Sully scoffs. "You're just tagging along. I'm not obliged to provide for your every need! Make a bed of twigs or something, it won't kill you."

"My word, t'will not do well for my complexion." I murmur resignedly. "If I must suffer so that milady may sleep in relative comfort, so be it!"

"Quit the drama!" The knight groans. "I'm gonna grab some firewood, clear the area for a fire pit and sleeping spots while I'm gone will ya? Girl, feel free to slap him if he keeps it up." She stomps off to the forest, leaving us with her horse and not sparing us a glance.

"You would not hit such a handsome face, no?" I ask the white-haired girl with a roguish smile.

I'm a bit wary when she reaches out towards me, almost certain she plans on proving me wrong, but rather than hitting me, she just pats me on the cheek and says "pow."

Because her expression doesn't change the entire time, it takes me a moment to realize she's making a joke. Nonetheless, I manage to crack a smile without too much of a delayed reaction.

"Shall we start?" I ask, gesturing to the area around me. The girl nods, and we commence cleansing the area. Despite walking for most of the day, my companion does not seem tired, and works quickly and efficiently beside me, and even drags over a few stray logs for us to sit on around the fire.

Sully returns several times throughout the hour, bringing back large piles of wood each time. Perhaps a bit overkill, but I'd rather have leftover wood than go cold tonight. I'll already be sleeping on the ground as is…

Right, I should see about gathering myself some suitably comfortable… twigs… to sleep on tonight. As much as I dislike the thought, I should consider buying myself a backpack. Gold won't help me much in the wilderness.

Reluctantly, I walk to the edge of the forest and start gathering twigs. I'm only vaguely aware of the white-haired girl following along behind me as I focus on finding the least pointy sticks on the ground.

The girl also picks up sticks as she walks, though she pauses to grab berries when she sees them, and even takes a sizable number of leaves of a certain tree when we pass it by. She immediately starts chewing on a few of the leaves, offering me some when she sees me watching her.

The leaves have a unique taste ('mint' the lady claims) and help to clear the pasty feel in my mouth from the lack of food all day as we rode.

The two of us return to the camp relatively swiftly, with a small armful of twigs each. Sully seems to have finished gathering her firewood, and has already started a small fire when we return.

"About time you two got back." The knight says, sitting up from her position against the log. "Let's eat." She says, digging through her pack and pulling out some salted meat.

"Lovely…" I murmur under my breath. "Quite the meal..."

"You say something Ruffles?" Sully asks sharply, glaring at me.

"No, no, of course not!" I say, waving my hands. "I was merely… _praising_ our meal."

"Berries." The white-haired girl interjects before the knight can retort, thrusting her handful of berries at the two of us. "Eat."

"I'm no expert on berries." Sully says suspiciously. "You sure those are safe?"

"Yes." The girl says bluntly. The knight still looks unconvinced.

"My dear Sully, do you think such a generous soul would lie to us?" I ask, making it clear that I think such an idea to be absurd.

"Generous soul? You saved her life, of course she's been nice to you." Sully grumbles, but reluctantly accepts some berries nonetheless.

"You would doubt her generosity?" I ask, feigning offence. "What has she done to garner such suspicion?"

"She looks like a plegian for one." The knight says, "and we're not exactly on good terms with them right now, so…"

"Racism." The girl says bluntly, staring at the knight.

"Yep." Sully says unapologetically. "Gotta keep my guard up. Just because some of them might be good doesn't mean the all of them, or even most of them, are."

The white-haired girl just shrugs and returns to eating, not seeming to care that much.

"Such bias is unbecoming for a lady." I berate softly.

The knight snorts. "Hell if I care. One girl ain't changing my mind on the whole bunch of 'em."

We fall into a somewhat awkward silence after then, as I try to silently convey my disapproval to the knight as she steadfastly ignores me.

"We should sleep." The white-haired girl says after a few minutes. She takes off her coat and shoves it at me. "Here."

"M-Milady please, I have no need for such a garment, I have twigs to sleep upon!" I protest. That sounds a bit weak, so I quickly amend it, "And you have nothing! You must keep your cloak."

"Hmm…" The girl hums, staring at me. "Fine..."

Using a few of the twigs she herself collected, the girl forms a small grid of twigs to lie upon and quickly falls asleep.

"I suppose I too shall retire." I sigh.

"Yeah yeah, I'll wake you up when it's your turn to stand guard." Sully huffs.

"Myself, stand guard?" I ask, shocked. "But that would interfere with my beauty sleep!"

"What, you want these two 'glorious ladies' to do all the work for you?" The knight snarks.

"No, no." I sigh. "As you wish, I shall take up the duty with great aplomb when I am awakened."

"Yeah, I doubt that." She snorts. "Now sleep already, we're leaving early tomorrow."

I quickly construct myself a crude bed, similar (though much less elegant) to that of our white-haired companion. It is truly uncomfortable, but the slight bend of the twigs is better than the cold earth, and I eventually doze off, leaving Sully sitting next to the fire.


	5. Meeting Among Fire

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.**

* * *

LISSA

I'm suddenly woken by someone vigorously shaking my shoulder.

"Lissa!" Chrom says hurriedly while glancing over his shoulder, "get up!"

"What is it Chrom…?" I groan, sitting up and rubbing my eyes. "You better not be going for another nighttime walk…"

"We've got monsters." He says, pulling me to my feet. Now that I've come to my senses, I can hear the sounds of combat around me and the crackle of fire as the trees around us burn an ominous orange color. The smell of ash blots out everything else. "We're surrounded, so ready your staff _._ We'll need it before the night is over."

"Surrounded?" I mutter groggily, picking up my staff from the ground beside me. Casting around, I quickly find out what he's talking about.

Fredrick, just to my left, is engaged with what can only be called a corpse. It has purple skin and glowing red eyes, and moves with a odd, lurching gait. Otherwise it was clearly human once upon a time, some even have the Yilissian crest on their armor, betraying their former lives as knights or soldiers.

"Burn, burn!" The white-haired man cackles, roasting a corpse barbarian as it tries to charge him. He happily incinerates everything that comes close to him with maniacal glee, yelling, "I will make you all _shiny_!"

Chrom, as soon as he's done waking me, charges out to complete the triangle formation the three men have taken around me.

"So." The man calls out, lighting another corpse on fire, "we need to move when we see an opening. Either we run, or find a better place to hold!"

"I agree." Fredrick grunts, charging out and skewering a mage. "An open clearing such as this is not a defensible position."

"Lissa!" Chrom calls, jumping back from his latest foe with a large gash across his arm. The myrmidon he was fighting leaps in again, unintentionally letting my brother get in a free hit due to the slow execution of a jumping slash, which results in an easy kill.

I run over to my brother, and my staff lights up with healing magic to seal the cut. Another myrmidon tries to charge in, but gets run down by Fredrick who had moved to cover us.

"We can't keep this up." Chrom grunts as I finish up. "Fredrick, make us an opening!"

"Yes Milord!" The knight yells. He barrels down a line of enemies, cutting us a path to the road. The white-haired man helps with a few blasts of fire as we all run along behind our knight, leaving the campsite behind.

Chrom, who was running in front of me, suddenly stops short and sticks out his arm, preventing me from moving forward. The axe that whistles past his face not a second later quickly explains why. To our right is a rather unique corpse. Rather than keeping it's human features, this creature has had its face completely covered with a leather mask. There's something especially threatening about it, it's movement are much more fluid than the others, as shown in how it smoothly pulls a new hand axe off its belt.

"Lissa, stay behind us." Chrom says in a whisper, pointing his sword at the creature. The man standing next to my brother just grins widely and readies a spell. With Fredrick too far ahead to help, it's up to Chrom and our white-haired ally to take this thing down.

Chrom takes initiative by dashing towards it, trying not to let it throw another axe. His sword is thrust quickly forward, and it nicks the creature on the him as it tries to move away. Despite being more fluid than the other corpses, this masked monster is still quite predictable, and its massive swings are easily blocked by my brother.

"It has friends!" The white-haired man warns, throwing a fire spell at the other corpses that appear from the tree-line. His sudden change from crazy to serious is startling.

I take a few steps back from him, giving the man space to move if need be, but when I do so a shadow falls over me.

The corpse silently looks down on me, sword glinting in the firelight. I freeze up in fear as it raises the blade, intending to cleave me in two.

" _I_ say when it ends!" A young voice yells. Suddenly, the corpse in front of me is slammed aside as a masked figure buries their sword in its flank. "Go, move!"

"R-Right." I stammer, scrambling back over to Chrom.

With their respective fights finished, me, my brother, and the white-haired boy continue to run along the path Fredrick blazed. The masked individual trails along behind us, cutting down any foe that enters their reach.

Now that I'm looking around, I notice some other things, like the evidence of fighting on the very edge of the forest, which can't be any of us.

"Captain Chrom!"

Or… maybe it can.

Sully and, uh, some random guy with a cravat, come rushing out of the woods on Sully's horse with a fancily dressed barbarian girl following behind them.

"Hi Reflet!" Our white-haired ally yells, waving over at the group.

"Robin." The barbarian, Reflet, calls in response.

"Robin huh?" The ma- Robin muses. "Rooobin. I like it."

So that girl is his sister? They look nothing alike beyond the white hair. He has pale, peach colored skin while she has deep bronze, he's skinny and agile while she's strong and sturdy. I have to wonder if she's just as weird as him.

"Sully, glad to see you!" Chrom yells, slicing off the arm of another Risen. Up ahead, Fredrick wheels around to dispatch a particularly persistent mage that had been barraging him from behind as he rode, and nods to Sully when he notices her approaching.

"Greetings to you all!" The man in the cravat calls, shooting down a corpse approaching my little group. "We have come to lend our noble aid!"

"We appreciate the rescue." Chrom nods, a determined light appearing in his eyes. "Now let's tear through! Shepherds, onwards!"

ROBIN

"You're _finished!_ " I cackle, roasting a mage that _dared_ to try and outshine myself. I take his wind tome as a trophy as his body vanishes in a puff of purple smoke, holding it up high and laughing all the while.

Beside me, my sister brings her axe down and viciously cuts a corpse in half, splitting it from one shoulder all the way to its groin. She casually nabs the coin purse it had on it as it dissipates and peers in, pulls out a few coins, and drops them in her own pouch before throwing the other away.

The road we're travelling on is just as infested as the forest, with corpses dotting the entire visible path. Fredrick and the new girl, Sully, keep at the front, cutting us a path, while the rest of us (Reflet, Chrom, and the masked person) make a circle around Lissa, Virion and myself… when I'm not busy taking people's stuff that is.

"You're supposed to stay inside." Reflet says disapprovingly.

"Hey, as good as your plan is, you gotta take an opportunity when you see it." I shrug, pocketing my new toy. "Improvisation is kinda my style, and it got me another weapon." I let my grin surface once again, "besides, these carcasses are so fun to _burn_. They're like tinder; they shine so bright, but oh so briefly..."

"You can burn things later." Reflet grunts. "Stay safe, go back."

"Fine… but only for you sis." I relent. "If I see another toy, I'm getting it though."

"That's fine." She nods, a slight smile emerging on her face, "not like I haven't been taking what's useful." She jingles her coin purse.

"Truly we have only the most _noble_ of intentions." I snicker. "Our motives are oh so pure."

"Noble doesn't keep you alive most of the time." Reflet says in that flat tone of hers, with her face returning to neutrality. "A bit of pragmatism is useful."

"Don't have to convince me." I nod, slipping back to the group.

"There you are!" Lissa says in an exasperated tone. "Stop leaving! You keep scaring me!"

"'Tis not nice to startle the lady." Virion says, giving me a pointed look.

"But I got another shiny!" I protest, showing them my new tome.

"All that just for a tome?" Lissa groans. "We could have gotten you a new tome back at Ylisstol!"

"But that doesn't feel _earned_." I scoff. "Besides, it's fun _Robin_ him of his stuff!" I wiggle my eyebrows as the cleric lets out a groan. Ahh puns, how I love you so.

"Naga save me from this man…" She sighs.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I shrug. I cast a blade of wind at an approaching corpse, and am somewhat disappointed when I realize this spell isn't quite as strong as the others.

"Milord!" Fredrick calls back, "the hoard is clearing! Our path shall be clear in mere moments!"

"Just a bit more everyone!" Chrom calls. "Push forwards!"

There isn't much to say about it, we absolutely destroy any corpse stupid enough to get in our way as we push through the last of our foes and into a clear stretch of road.

"Everyone in one piece?" Chrom asks, panting.

"We're fine." Lissa says, giving everyone a once-over. She turns to our masked ally. "Thank you… I never got your name?"

"You may call me Marth." The figure says.

"Like the hero king of old." Chrom muses. "You certainly fight like a hero, where did you learn to fight?"

"I'm not here to talk about me. Your world teeters on the brink of calamity, and tonight was but a taste. You have been warned."

"Teeters on what now?" Lissa asks, confused. "Ah, hey wait!" She calls after Marth's retreating form.

"The last few days have been alive with curious characters." Fredrick mutters. "I have no doubt we'll hear his name again, but for now we should continue on. I am more concerned about the capital."

"And I'm just tired." Lissa says with a huff. "I can't wait for a soft, cozy bed…"

"I concur with the lady." Virion says. "Finishing our rest does seem like a splendid idea."

"Just a bit more you two." Chrom sighs. "Only a few hours more."

"'Only a few more hours' he says." Lissa sneers in disgust. "Ugh…"

"You can ride on my horse milady." Fredrick says.

"Really? Yaaaay! Thank you Fredrick, you're the best!" Lissa cheers, going from grumpy to happy in the span of a second.

Virion looks hopefully at Sully who sneers back. "You've been riding the whole time, walk for once." She scoffs. The knight turns to Chrom. "You want a lift?"

"Thanks Sully." The blue-haired man sighs, accepting a hand up.

"My word…" Virion sighs. "Cast out on the street like yesterday's laundry…"

Reflet's eyes flick over to him. "I could carry you."

"No, milady." Virion says, shaking his head. "I have taken advantage of your kindness far too much already. I shall walk."

"Taken advantage?" I ask, sliding up behind the man. He startles a bit, turning to look at me. "I hope you haven't done anything to my sister…"

"No, no!" The man protests, holding his hands up in a placating gesture. "I assure you, I have not laid a finger on her!"

"Except when you carried my unconscious body into an inn." Reflet corrects.

"You don't say." I narrow my eyes. "Carrying a senseless girl into an inn…"

"Please, believe me!" Virion says, almost begging. "I have done nothing!"

I glare at him a few moments longer, watching him squirm. Then, I reach out a hand and place it on his shoulder.

After another moment, I say, "I believe you."

"Thank the heavens." Virion sighs in relief.

"I mean, you're clearly to weak and squishy to do much to my sis anyways." I chuckle, turning my acceptance into an insult. "So I doubt you could have 'taken advantage' of her if you _tried_."

"I…" The man says, a bit stunned. "Do I truly appear that weak?" He murmurs, looking at himself critically.

"Robin…" Reflet says, staring at me. To others it might appear to be a blank stare (and technically it is), but I know she disapproves of what i just did.

"What?" I ask, grinning. "Gotta play the disapproving brother part, right? Can't make this too easy on him!"

"We are not courting." My sister says flatly. "Stop."

"I'll be the judge of that." I say teasingly. "Just being cautious here!"

She continues her silent stare of disapproval as I skip away, and I don't hide my responding grin.

I'm fairly sure Reflet is telling the truth, but this is too fun to pass up!

MARTH

That was _not_ how that encounter was supposed to happen. Father was supposed to go on a midnight walk, I remember the story clear as day…

Naga did say there might be discrepancies; this is another world, not mine. We have not jumped into the past, time travel is impossible after all, this is a very similar, but technically different world. That is not Father, despite bearing the same name, same face, the same voice… Whatever the differences or similarities, I must save this world from the fate that befell mine. I must save Fath- Chrom, I must save Chrom and his Shepherds from the fate that would surely befall them without my help.

I just wish I could have saved _my_ world… At least me and my friends escaped to help this one. I am worried as to where they though. The outrealm gate separated us when we entered, most likely the Grima of my world interfering. What's worse, is that they might have also sent troops through, and the more advanced Risen of my world could cause major damage here.

I must also split my time between protecting the Shepherds and finding my friends. There are a few of them whom I worry about travelling alone. Aesir and Noire come to mind, as does Morgan. I imagine Cynthia and Owain could also get into trouble rather easily…

It does me no good to worry. I must deal with things as they come, and trust my friends to handle themselves for a bit. Most should have the good sense to remain in one general area... except Marc and Annabeth, they'll wander off immediately. They should be fine though, Annabeth has her relatives, and no one in their right mind will mess with Marc.

Ah, I am getting distracted already. I will tail the Shepherds to Ylisstol to verify they are safe, and then set off for Ferox. With any luck, I will find someone on the way.

This is the start of a _very_ long mission…

* * *

 **So yeah, just clearing things up. To avoid the whole time-paradox thing, I'm just having time travel be impossible. Think of this world and Lucina's world as two (almost) identical worlds, except that one world came into being about fifteen or so years later, hence why travelling through outrealm has the effect of appearing to go back in time.**

 **Does that make sense to you all?**

* * *

 _ **Jaalk5**_ **:** I think 'highlight' might be an overstatement (I thought it was rather mediocre writing on my part), but if you liked it, I'm glad. Amusingly enough, if we look at his base stats, Virion isn't actually that frail. I just thought it would make more sense for the displaced noble who would prefer to party and socialize over fight to be a bit more weak, or squishy, than than the others.


	6. The Shepherds

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.**

 **I should really consider updating my standard disclaimers…**

* * *

VIRION

My, what a wondrous city! The majestic wall, the brightly colored buildings, the people! They all capture my imagination so!

They would capture it even _more_ if I weren't tired as a dog, and if it weren't so dark that we can barely see five meters in front of us, even inside the city. I suppose I must wait 'till the morrow to view the city in all its splendor.

"Sully." Chrom whispers, so as to not wake his sleeping sister. "Take everyone to the Shepherds barracks for tonight. We'll come by in the morning."

"Sure." The cavalier yawns. "You headed off to see your sis?"

"Yes, I must report these creatures to her." He smiles a bit, "and _someone_ has to put Lissa to bed."

"I believe that would be _me_." Fredrick scoffs. "You always leave me to do that milord."

"You make it sound like she's a toddler that won't go to bed." Sully snorts. "Whatever, you do your thing. I'll take these lugs to the barracks."

"Thank you Sully." The blue-haired man nods. He turns to his second-in-command, "come on Fredrick."

"Yes Milord." The knight nods. The two walk off towards the castle, Lissa still sleeping on the back of Fredrick's mare, leaving us with the red-haired cavalier to guide us.

"They can simply waltz into the castle in the middle of the night?" I murmur, watching the trio walk straight past the guard without even being stopped. "My word, they must be of substantially high rank."

"Well yeah, 'Crown Prince' is almost as high as you can get." Sully says, rolling her eyes at me.

"Prince?" Robin asks curiously. "Well, that explains the fancy sword…"

"The sword? The sword is all you can think of?" I question in slight shock. "You have been so, so… _informal_ to the prince of the realm!"

"Ruffles, can you freak out later?" Sully groans. "You can rant later. We all just want to sleep."

"Freak out?" I scoff, offended. "I am not, as you say, 'freaking out'."

"Sure, sure." She sighs, rolling her eyes. "Come on everyone, follow me."

Despite my internal panic, I follow the lady off to a side street along with everyone else. I have all of tomorrow and the days after to make amends with the prince after all. I'll have to make sure the girl… Reflet, yes, that was her name. I'll have to make sure she does the same. I would not want my new ally getting into trouble, especially since she was so nice to my glorious self.

We walk up to a rather simple building. While large and well-built, there is nothing particularly outstanding about it. The building is light grey stone with an oaken roof, and there is not much to say beyond that. It is functional if nothing else.

Sully takes a moment to lead her horse around to the stables before returning to the front.

"Now let's see…" She mutters, searching her pack. "I should… wait, didn't I give that to Kellam…? Oops, well…" She stops, coughs, and looks to us apologetically. "Uh, we'll have to knock. I didn't take my key when I left."

Robin gives a soft chuckle, but otherwise we remain silent as the cavalier knocks on the door.

"Hope someone's awake." She mutters.

There's a tense minute of waiting, and we all fidget in place. None of us want to wake up the occupants of the building, but we also don't want to be stuck outside for the rest of the night.

Just when Sully goes to knock again, the lock clicks, the knob turns, and the door swings inward. A pale figure greets us, a crackling Levin Sword gripped in one hand.

"You're back early." The figure says bluntly.

"Nice to see you too Emmet." Sully grunts. "We've got three extras to put up for the night."

"New Shepherds?" He asks, eyeing us warily.

"Maybe." The red-haired woman shrugs. "Ask the captain tomorrow."

"Hmm…" Emmet looks at us with suspicion, not even bothering to put on a pretense of civility. "Fine. You three follow me."

He abruptly turns around, stalking off into the main room.

"Sorry, he doesn't trust anyone, _ever._ " Sully whispers, nodding towards the boy. "Don't mind him. See you all in the morn." She waves at us as she walks off in a different direction, and we trail after Emmet once she disappears from sight.

We follow the pale boy down a hallway, lit only by his Levin Sword, which shines brightly in the darkness. Eventually, we're lead to a turn and into another hallway filled with doors. We walk about halfway down the hall before Emmet stops us and unlocks three of the closest doors with his free hand.

"Here's the keys." He says, handing us each one of the simple metal keys. "Don't loose them. If you don't stay, I expect those back."

"Of course!" I scoff, "you must not insult us so, for we would _never_ -!"

"Yeah, great story." He interrupts, giving me a tired glare filled with wariness. "I've got work to do." He doesn't even say goodbye as he stalks off, looking over his shoulder every few seconds to make sure we're not following him.

"Well..." I say once he's gone around the corner. "He is most certainly not he most pleasant of individuals."

"I want his sword." Robin says, grinning. "It's cool."

"Of course..." I sigh. Why must everyone around me be so... colourful? "I will take my repose for now, I shall see you both in the morn." I nod to Robin, and give an elegant bow to his sister. "Until tomorrow."

"See ya!" The boy chirps.

"Hmm." Reflet nods, her lovely face blank as always.

I retreat into my assigned room, shutting the door quietly behind me. The room is small, but that is all I can see with the current level of lighting. I'm not particularly inclined to look around at the moment anyways, so I quickly locate the bed and fall asleep.

CHROM

If I had woken up by myself, it would have been noon before I exited my room. Unfortunately, Lissa got more sleep than me last night, so I'm awoken by her waltzing into my room and poking me awake, saying I should come with her to our barracks to explain to all the Shepherds why we suddenly have three new guests.

With some prodding, and a hot meal courtesy of the kitchen and delivered by Fredrick, I get myself out of the castle before noon and trudge after Lissa to the barracks with Fredrick in tow.

I remember when we left that the barracks was a clean place, with all the new supply crates stacked nicely so they could be brought to the storage room later, and the table newly cleaned by the wall... and absolutely _nothing_ like the pigsty it is now.

"Oh, captain!" Sumia, one of our newer members, calls out when she sees me enter. She is light-skinned with long, light brown hair, bordering on grey or silver, and has a very slender build that conceals surprising athletic capabilities. She stands up off the crate she was sitting on and jogs towards me, "it's so good to see-"

Almost as if on cue, she slips on a piece of paper and goes tumbling forward. Me and Fredrick react quickly and catch her, being used to her clumsiness by this point.

"Those boots again?" I ask sympathetically as we help her to her feet.

"W-Well, not entirely." She stammers. "I-I, uh..."

"Don't worry about it." I pat her shoulder. "You'll get used to them." I say with confidence.

"Oh... thank you captain." She says, smiling hesitantly.

"Greetings milord." Another voice, more melodic but sharp, calls from the far side of the room. "It is good to see you back in relatively good health, though I do ask you take better care of my treasure next time."

"Maribelle!" Lissa protests with a whine. "I was fine!"

"Nonsense darling, you were almost torn apart by those horrible monsters you mentioned!" The lady scoffs. "That is not 'fine' at all!"

Maribelle is the very picture of a lady, with blonde hair styled into ringlets, perfect makeup on her light skin, and a pink dress with just the right amount of frills to be stylish, but not obnoxious... or at least, that's what Lissa says. I wouldn't know, fashion is above me.

"Hey Chrom, bet you missed ol' Teach's axe out there!" Vaike shouts as he ambles over and slaps me on the back. "I bet I could'a taken out the whole lot of 'em an' saved you the trouble!"

"Suuuure Vaike." Lissa chuckles at the blonde-haired muscle-head. "If Fredrick was having trouble, than of course _you_ would be able to deal with them."

"Wha? Freddy was having problems?!" This seems to shock even Vaike. "Wow, that's saying somethin'..." He mutters, scratching his head.

"I'll thank you not to call me that." Fredrick snaps at the man. "or I'll be having you do laps around the compound the whole afternoon."

"Hey now." Vaike frowns. "The Teach didn't say nothin' wrong!"

"Vaike, your grammar, please fix it." Maribelle sighs.

"Enough." I say firmly, stopping the conversation before it spirals out into an argument. "Now, where are the others?"

"Sully's still having breakfast." Vaike nods towards the dining hall to our right. "Just got up a few minutes ago. Speaking of which..." He looks at me curiously, "is is just us, or did we mysteriously get some new guests overnight?"

"It's not just you Vaike." Lissa giggles. "Have you already introduced yourselves?"

"Well no..." Vaike coughs. "Teach wasn't sure if he should be wary o' those Plegians or not."

"They're fine!" My sister says with exasperation. "C'mon everyone!" She says, tugging Maribelle of her seat and into the dining hall. Me and Fredrick push Sumia and Vaike along after them, despite Sumia protesting that she'll 'just wait outside so I don't wreck something'.

"Hey Chrom!" Robin calls the instant I move through the door. "Why didn't you tell us you were a prince?"

"I forgot you have amnesia." I admit. "So I didn't figure I had to tell you because I thought you already knew."

"Truely?" Fredrick mutters. "I thought you acting prudent and hiding your identity, but you simply forgot?"

I give my second-in-command an indignant glare before looking back over to the quartet at the table. Virion looks like he doesn't want to be awake right now; his hair is disheveled despite clear attempts to comb it and his posture is somewhat slumped. Reflet and Robin are in far better condition, and Sully is as ready as ever.

"So, uh..." I cough. "I suppose introductions are in order here?"

"Allow me!" Lissa chirps, skipping over to our three new allies. "Ta da! These guys helped us out yesterday against those corpse things!"

"Really?" Vaike asks, suspicious.

"Yeah!" Lissa nods, "this is Robin, that's Reflet, and this is Virion!"

"Hi!" Robin waves through a mouthful of food, prompting a disgusted noise from Maribelle.

Reflet just stares at the new people for a few seconds before saying "hi" in the most monotone voice you can imagine.

"Truly, it is a pleasure to meet you all!" Virion says, sitting up straighter and preening his hair (not that it helps much). "I, Virion, archest of archers, am delighted to make your acquaintances!"

"See Vaike? _That_ is sophistication." Maribelle says pointedly to the fighter while nodding at the archer.

"Fancy pants uses a bow." Vaike scoffs. "Sophistication looks boring to me."

"Pardon me!" Virion says, looking thoroughly offended. "I am not _boring_! I am an educated individual of the highest caliber! I am witty, smart, an-"

"God Ruffles, do you ever stop praising yourself?" Sully groans. "Trying to eat over here and you're making me vomit."

"I say..." Virion grumbles. "No respect for nobility."

Reflet absently reaches out, not even looking away from her food, and pats the archer on the shoulder. Virion seems to deflate and sits back in his seat, pouting (elegantly) and refusing to look at Vaike.

Lissa seems to find all this quite funny, and continues introductions with a giggle. "Well you three, the muscle-head is Vaike, this adorable flower is Sumia, and this is Maribelle!" My sister gives the latter a hug, which softens her usually haughty expression just a tad. Sumia seems nervous at the attention as Robin and Reflet scrutinize her.

"So Sumia..." Robin says slowly.

"Y-Yes?" She stammers.

"What sewing implement do you use?" He asks with a serious expression.

Sumia blinks, not understanding Robin's strange question. I step in before she can answer, saying "gods Robin, not this again!"

"But I have to know!" He protests, slamming a fist down on the table. "I need to prepare for the uprising!"

"There is no 'uprising'! We're not a secret sewing club!" I shout.

"What a suspiciously specific denial!" The white-haired man says, narrowing his eyes at me. "Just the sort of thing someone looking to, oh I don't know, _take over the world_ would say!"

"Why on Earth would they say that!?" I cry, throwing my hands up in the air.

"Because they need to convince people that they're not a world-conquering sewing club!" Robin says with utter conviction. "That way, when they offer to sew sweaters for the emperor, he won't expect them to stab him with the holy needle!"

"It's not a needle!" I yell back, "and why would an emperor as _us_ to sew him a sweater!?"

"What's going on?" Sumia whispers to Fredrick, who has brought a hand up to cover his face.

"Don't ask." The poor man groans, his voice muffled slightly. "You'll only encourage him if he hears you."

"That man is crazier than a starving cat…" Vaike mutters, eyeing white-haired boy with slight alarm.

"For once Vaike, I must agree." Maribelle murmurs.

"Yeah, but he's nice though." Lissa shrugs. "By the way, where's the others?"

"Miriel's doing her science thing, Stahl's visiting family but should be back today, Ricken's at school, and Emmet's sleeping." Vaike says, shrugging. "I tried to drag Miriel out, but she wouldn't budge."

"Ugh, I bet she didn't even come up to eat, did she?" My sister groans.

"Nope." Vaike shakes his head. "I brought her some stuff though, so she shouldn't starve."

"Chrom." Reflet says, catching our attention. "Was there a particular reason you came here?"

"Well, mostly for introductions…" I say hesitantly. I think there was something else… "Ah, I remember. After lunch, you three should follow me to the castle." I nod to the white-haired siblings and Virion. "My sister would like to meet you."

"Hi Lissa!" Robin cheerfully waves to the girl.

"My _other_ sister." I clarify with a sigh. "Emmeryn."

"Ohh…"

"We are to meet with the exalt?" Virion asks, shocked. "What a momentous occasion!"

"Well, she just wants to meet our new allies…" I say.

"I must make myself presentable!" The turquoise-haired man says with determination, and rises from his seat. "Please, pardon me." He walks out of the dining hall, heading back to his room.

"Be ready in two hours!" Lissa calls after him.

"I expect no funny business out of you around the exalt." Fredrick says firmly, addressing the siblings (but mostly Robin).

"Of course." Reflet nods.

"Me, funny? Aww, thanks Freddy, I knew you cared!" Robin jokes.

The knight is not amused, and glares fiercely at the boy, who returns his gaze with a lopsided grin and eyes crinkled in amusement. Despite Fredrick's best effort, he can't stare down someone with such little respect for authority as Robin, and eventually looks away with a resigned sigh while Robin clenches a fist in victory.

"Once again, Robin bests the tyrannical sewing club!" The crazy boy whispers to himself, smiling proudly.

" _Why can't I ever find normal people?_ " I think to myself, shaking my head. " _Hope you're ready for this Emm._ "

* * *

 **Yeah, this chapter was fun to write. Robin was fun as always, and Virion was entertaining to write (though I think I'm exaggerating him a bit).**

* * *

 _ **Jaalk5**_ **:** That's a funny image, thanks for that. Yaay Luci- erm, Marth!


	7. Greetings

Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.

* * *

VIRION

Tis difficult to restrain my excitement. The exalt! The exalt! This is a perfect chance to endear myself to the entirety of the royal family! Once I have firmly established trust, then I can begin to gather aid for Rosanne. Only the bare bones of a plan, but a plan nonetheless.

I do not wish to make myself out as a manipulator, but the fact remains that a friend is much more likely to garner aid, and to believe at all, than a stranger or a new recruit. I would love nothing more than to share my problem the instant pleasantries finish, but that would be a poor strategy, and in poor taste considering this is a simple greeting.

My door suddenly opens with a 'snap' and a voice calls out, "Virion!"

"My word!" My arms flail to my sides as I try to regain my balance. I'm only stopped from falling off my stool by a strong hand firmly grabbing my shoulder and steadying me. I turn to look at Reflet, my heart still beating from the surprise. "Please milady, do not do that again! I love a surprise as much as the next man, but I much prefer a party to a heart-attack!" I pause. "How did you get in?"

"You didn't lock the door." She says flatly.

"I thought I…" My gaze travels to the door and, more pointedly, the shattered lock that used to be keeping it shut. "Erm, methinks the good lady has forgotten her strength."

Reflet follows my gaze, and shifts a bit in what I assume to be embarrassment (her expression still does not change, so I cannot tell) as she notices the lock. "My bad. Chrom says we're going by the way."

"Already? But I'm not finished preparing!" I gasp.

"You look fine." The girl says, though her blank expression makes it hard to tell if she actually means that or not. "Let's go."

"But… alright, I suppose we should not keep the exalt waiting." I nod reluctantly. I rise from my seat, glancing over my attire one more time and running a nervous hand through my hair before allowing Reflet to lead me out the door.

"What takes you that long?" She asks suddenly, looking at me with a small head-tilt that implies curiosity. "Does hair take two hours?"

"No, no. My glorious physique only takes twenty at most, thirty with a bath. Most of that time is spent choosing proper attire, rehearsing lines, and reviewing information." I explain. "Though I will admit, as I lack information or other outfits, most of my time was spent rehearsing…"

"Are you nervous?" She asks, staring at me. "You're… erratic."

"I most certainly am no-!" I stop, noticing only now fast I'm speaking and that I've been gesturing with my hands quite a bit as I do so. I cough into my arm, feeling a bit embarassed."Y-Yes, I suppose I am a bit flustered. It is unusual for me to be as such for this sort of thing, this is supposed to be my area of expertise."

"I thought you were an archer?"

"Duke first, archer second my dear." I correct. "Actually, I would say lover second, archer third even!"

"Ah." Her lack of reaction isn't surprising. I've begun to expect it after only a day together, such is its obviousness. I cannot help but wonder though if she is truly so uncaring. A penny for her thoughts indeed…

"Hey, hi, it's the necktie guy!" Robin shouts as we exit the hallway. He has his usual manic grin on. "And Reflet too!"

"It is not a necktie, it is a cravat!" I correct, stroking the accessory.

"Or a bib, that too." He chirps happily.

"Cravat!" I say with increasing volume.

"Am I interrupting?" Chrom asks from his position just outside the door. "Are we ready now?"

"I wanna gooo!" Lissa whines as she pokes her head in the room. "Virion, hurry up!"

"My word! I was only-"

"No excuses, we must be leaving." Fredrick says sternly, appearing behind us. "We have delayed long enough."

"I was not-!"

"Suure mr. hair-and-flair." Robin mocks while stepping out the door, Reflet in tow. "It's not like you were the one who needed to prepare for the last two whole hours!"

"I-I-" I stammer. They keep interrupting me, how rude! And that boy dares to mock my preparations?! I point an accusing finger at him. "Now see here-!"

"We will, after we go see the exalt." A certain knight snaps, glaring down at me. "Now move, or I will carry you there."

"I can if you want." Reflet offers, glancing back at us. "He's a lightweight."

"No, no, I'll be fine." I sigh, moving outside to join the group. "I dearly hope the meeting will go better than this…"

CHROM

The guards push the doors open, and I lead our way in. Robin and Reflet get a few suspicious looks (Reflet more so than Robin, probably because of all the skin she's showing) on our way in, but no one is going to question the prince himself. The room is familiar to me, having been here plenty of times. The tall room has large octagonal pillars on the sides to hold up the ceiling, and is decorated with a number of tapestries and stained windows.

I'm plenty used to this, but the "ooh!" from Robin reminds me that our three new allies aren't.

"It's so shiny, and there isn't even any fire." The white-haired boy whispers loudly.

"But of course, 'tis a palace." Virion chuckles, having regained his composure on the way over from the barracks. "Would you expect less?"

"Eh-hem." A familiar voice calls from down the room.

I glance at the source with a sheepish look. "Sorry Phila."

The veteran sky knight gives a hum of disapproval, which is swiftly met by a laugh from the woman next to her.

"Calm Phila, this is not a formal meeting." My sister laughs.

Sitting at the far end of the room, Emmeryn strikes quite the figure. The light from the windows highlights her long gold hair, and her elegant dress (I don't know what kind, ask Lissa) really sells the 'divine' image the royal family, my family, has cultivated.

"Ooh, she's shiny too." Robin chirps.

"Introductions are in order I suppose." I chuckle. "Robin, Reflet, Virion, this is my sister Emmeryn. Emm, this is Robin, Reflet, and Virion."

"Greetings noble exalt!" Virion cries with a dramatic bow. "It is an honor to be able to see you in all thine splendor!"

"Hi." Reflet says simply.

"Greetings stranger!" Robin smiles, waving wildly. "What brings you out to these parts?"

Emmeryn is unphased by Robin's strangeness, and responds as if this is a perfectly normal question. "I live here of course, and you?"

"Chrom dragged me here." Robin huffs, giving me an exaggerated pout. "Other than that, I dunno. I don't have memories."

"An amnesiac?" My sister asks, concerned.

"Two." Reflet says in her usual flat tone.

"That is quite unfortunate." Emmeryn murmurs. "However, seeing as you have gained my siblings' trust, I can say with confidence that you will be welcome in Ylisse so long as you have need. Even if you lack memories, you shall not lack for a home."

"Thanks shiny girl!" The white-haired boy chirps with a grin. Suddenly, his expression freezes as his eyes lock on to something behind Emmeryn. "Yo-You're one of them." He whispers, pointing at my sister.

"My pardon?" Emmeryn is confused (as are the rest of us), which is shown with a soft frown.

"You have a buttonhole." Robin whispers in horror, pointing at her hairpiece. "Another revolutionary, they've corrupted the exalt!"

"Naga preserve us…" I groan, rubbing my forehead. "Not again Robin!"

"No, I will not be stopped, down with the revolution!" The boy cries, thrusting a fist in the air.

"Erm…" My sister looks completely lost, and Philia looks very suspicious at the moment, made clear by the way she's glaring at Robin with sharp eyes.

"Sorry Emm, this is just, uh…" I try to think of a way to politely say 'he's crazy'.

To my relief, Reflet steps in. "My brother has an odd sense of humor." She states in a soft tone.

"Indeed he does…" Philia says cautiously. "And you are sure we can trust him prince Chrom?"

"He fought for Ylissean lives, I'd say that's plenty enough to overlook an odd quirk or two." I nod affirmatively. "Plegian or otherwise, I've been planning on asking them, all of them, to be Shepherds."

"I'm not plegian." Virion corrects softly.

"Err, sorry, Plegian and…?"

"Roasannite."

"Plegian and Rosannite then."

"It would be an honour to have the assistance of such skilled individuals." Emmeryn smiles, nodding at the three. "Do consider the offer, we could greatly use your help, especially with the rise in bandit attacks."

"Milady, that is confidential information!" Philia hisses.

"It is no secret Philia, anyone could have noticed." My sister says with a sad shake of her head. "The same for the Risen, though thankfully the news has been confined to outer villages for now. Eventually the word will spread inside the capital, but it will be slow, and as such won't inspire panic."

"Risen huh?" Robin hums.

"The council has decided on a name I see." Fredrick murmurs.

"Yes, it has also been decided that we should seek assistance from Regna Ferox." Emmeryn states. "Normally I would undertake such a diplomatic journey..."

"But considering how dangerous times are becoming, you want the Shepherds to go in your stead." Chrom finishes, getting a nod from his older sister. "Alright, we won't disappoint. I'll start preparations immediately."

"Ooh, we're gonna visit another country!" Lissa gasps excitedly. I almost forgot she was here considering how uncharacteristically quiet she was being.

I disapprove of her coming along though. It's far too dangerous, especially considering that a simple bandit attack almost got the lot of us killed, I don't want to risk my sister on the open road. "Lis, you should probably st-"

"No way buddy, I'm coming! Someone has to keep you in one piece!" She says firmly, putting her foot down. "Unless you're gonna try to convince Emmet to come out on the battlefield!"

We both know that's not going to happen, and my shoulders droop in resignation. "Fine, you can come along."

"Speaking of Emmet Milord, we should tell him of our plans so he can begin preparations." Fredrick reminds me.

"Yes, of course." I nod. I look to my sister. "By your leave?"

"Good luck Chrom." Emm smiles. "I know you'll do me proud."

I bow to my sister, turn, motion the others to follow, and stride out of the hall. We've got a mission, our first major mission. I refuse to mess this up!

* * *

Unlike my other major story, I can't actually think of much to say down here in the author's notes. I can't reveal anything yet, and I'm following a more-or-less standard formula… Hopefully I'll find something to talk about soon enough. In the meantime, I'm more than happy to respond to reviews via the bottom section down here. I'm always up for a chat.

* * *

Mini: I know, I'm so excited for it! If only Henry wasn't thirteen chapters away...


	8. Move Out

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.**

* * *

VAIKE

"This mission is strictly voluntary." Chrom says, standing before the arrayed Shepherds. "No one is required to come along, but your help will be appreciated."

"Count me in!" I yell instantly.

"I volunteer!" Lissa cheers.

"Me too!" Sully agrees.

"I'll come too." A voice says from right behind me. I startle and whip around, only to see Kellam towering over me.

"Geeze Kellam, don't do that." I pant. "Gonna give Teach a heart attack!"

The armored knight just sighs. "I've been here the entire time…"

"Ohhh! Shiny!" The weird plegian guy chirps, running over to us. "You're so shiny!"

"Erm, I-I suppose?" Kellam stammers.

"We volunteer." The other plegian flatly. "Our tactician training should come in handy."

"I too will join you." Virion nods. "My bow shall keep you all safe."

"E-Erm…" Sumia mutters. "I-I'm not sure…"

"You don't have to come Sumia." Chrom says softly. "All the same, you'll never learn without field practice."

"A-Alright." She nods nervously. "I'll try not to get in the way."

"The lady will not be a burden." Virion says with a charming smile. "Your mere presence will be appreciated."

Sumia nods mutely, her face tinged slightly red at the attention.

"So Chrom, when do we leave?" I ask, leaning back in my seat. "Teach is aching to stretch his legs."

"Tomorrow morning, we just need to secure rations and some replacement gear." He informs me.

"Because _someone_ managed to lose them." Emmet snarks from the back of the room. "Thanks for that by the way, now I've got to find more in less than a day!"

Chrom pointedly ignores our quartermaster and continues. "Vaike, I'm going to need you to inform Stahl and Miriel of our departure time tomorrow. They've already agreed. We leave at sunup."

"You can count on Teach!" I boast, grinning.

"Hey, isn't Maribelle coming?" Sully asks. "You know, since everyone else is?"

"She's got business back home." Lissa supplies. "Can't be put off."

"Ah, alright. Her loss." The cavalier shrugs. "At least everyone else is coming."

"That means we need to be well prepared tomorrow." Fredrick says firmly. "We leave the instant the sun comes up, and we won't wait for anyone. So don't sleep in or you'll be left behind!"

"Stahl ain't gonna like that." Sully chuckles.

"Sunrise, my goodness." Virion sighs. "Alas, I shall endure."

"Too much for you Bib Boy?" I tease. "Ain't used to the hard life are ya?"

Fredrick scoffs quietly at my words. Probably thinking that this ain't even _close_ to hard, and he's right, but that only proves how much Ruffles here ain't used to all this.

"It's a _cravat_!" The man protests.

"Maybe you need to reconsider your bib!" Lissa whispers loudly with a cheeky grin.

Virion scowls. "Haha, I happen to like my cravat thank you very much."

"I like it too." Reflet says in a slightly less flat voice than usual.

"See? The good lady agrees." The nobleman says with a vindicated expression.

"Suure, it's not like she said that just to be nice or anything." Lissa scoffs.

"Aye!" I butt in, "Teach has an idea! 'For we all leave, we should take a trip to the pub, have a round before we go to all the snow and the like."

"I second that!" Sully calls.

Fredrick looks disapproving, but Chrom nods. "Don't show up tomorrow dead drunk, and I don't have a problem with it."

"You should join us Captain." Sully offers.

"I shouldn't." He refuses.

"C'mon, take a load off." Robin, says, skipping over and slinging an arm over the man's shoulders, much to Fredrick's disapproval. The grin the boy wears is impish. "We had a tough day yesterday, don't you want to chill a bit?"

"Well I _could_ use time to relax…" The prince says uncertainly.

"Teach still remembers that place that served those ribs you liked." I edge on. "We can go there!"

There's no way Chrom can say no to that, and he relents. "Alright, alright, I'll join you."

"Hell yeah!" Sully cackles, grinning. "Let's go!"

"Now?" Chrom says, shocked.

"You said we had to get up early tomorrow, so we need to get started right away!" The cavalier insists. "C'mon everyone, to the Soaked Boar!"

ROBIN

So this is what a hangover feel like. Huh… it's painful. Kinda like having my own personal drummer, except he keeps missing the drum and hitting my head. He's pretty consistent though, gotta hand that to him.

I don't remember a lot of last evening, or night. I know it was fun though, and that's what matters in the end.

I say that, but being unable to remember specific events makes it significantly _less_ fun than it could be.

"I'm _not_ doing that again." I pout, sitting up in my bed. "Ouchie ouch ouch."

Now let's see, today we were, uh… right! Traveling and stuff! The sun still isn't up, which is why I woke up on my own and it wasn't Reflet shaking me up. I don't really have anything to pack, everything fits in my cloak (beyond the standard tent and stuff all the Shepherds get). That's actually kinda sad, I wish I had something that I actually need the pack for beyond a tent. Like books, or games, or souvenirs, or _anything_.

Ah, whatever. I'm sure I can steal something interesting off a dead body and put it in my pack. I still have that pouch holding all those coins I took off the bandits I've killed. Maybe one day I'll find a cool trinket.

I hum to myself as I skip down to the kitchen. I'm not alone in the thought apparently, as I'm greeted by the sight of Fredrick, Sully, and Emmet sitting around the large table in the center of the dining room. The two horse riders sit next to each other, while the pale boy sits as far away from them as possible.

"Hi guys!" I greet cheerfully, nabbing myself a bowl and some hot soup. I make a valiant effort to ignore the way my head pounds when I speak. "Getting your worms?"

"What?" Sully says flatly.

"You know, 'early bird gets the worm'?" I say, wiggling my eyebrows and miming a beak with my hands. I pretend to peck at the red-haired girl, grinning all the while.

"Dear Naga…" Fredrick sighs. "I presume you are packed and ready?"

"Yep!" I nod, getting another stab of pain for my efforts. I still manage to keep up my smile despite it. "Am I the first here?"

"After us, yes." The knight grunts. "The others should wake soon, or they will miss breakfast. We don't have much time to spare…"

As if on cue, Chrom and Lissa stumble into the room, followed by Reflet and an extremely tired Virion.

"Go-Goodday everyone." Virion yawns.

"Hmergk." Lissa snorts. The rings under her eyes are pronounced, easily betraying her exhaustion.

"Tired Lissa?" Sully laughs. "Don't try too hard to hide it."

"Haha." The princess grumbles. "Just give me the food…"

"Good morning Milord." Fredrick greets.

"Morning Fredrick." Chrom nods. He too looks tired, but less so than his sister. "The convoy is prepared?"

"Yes." Emmet says curtly, reminding everyone that he's actually here. "All stocked. We have food enough to last us an additional month should the situation demand it."

"Hopefully we won't need those provisions." Chrom says with a nod, approving of the quartermaster's preparations. "But better to be safe."

Vaike, Sumia, and Kellam trickle in over the next ten minutes. A lady with glasses and a big hat, introduced as Miriel, also joins us. She brings a big book up with her, and remains engrossed with it throughout the meal. Curiously, I notice her pocket a muffin rather than eating it. I wonder what's up with that.

A good half of the Shepherds are tired, myself included. The hot soup helps to perk up most of them though. It _is_ damn good soup. There's also muffins and a few other baked goods, but the soup is the highlight.

The sun slowly creeps up over the horizon and we pile out of the barracks. Just around the side of the building are several wagons, horses already attached. Sully and Fredrick fetch their own steeds while Emmet climbs aboard the frontmost wagon, with Sumia and Kellam directing the other two.

"Whaaat?" I say when the two horse-riders return, brow furrowing in annoyance. "I'm walking?"

"Of course, t'would be folly to waste money on those who can walk." Fredrick scoffs.

"Can't I just sit in the back of one of the wagons then?" I whine.

"No." Emmet calls over. "You'll tire the horses, we'll go even slower!"

I pout and scowl at the two of them, but in the end I can't do anything. I resign myself to walking off my headache. At least I'm not the only one though; Vaike, Reflet, Virion, Miriel, Lissa, and Chrom himself are walking too.

"Alright, is that everyone who's coming? Everyone ready?" Chrom asks, scanning the assorted Shepherds. We all voice our readiness, most of us eager to depart. "Okay then, let's be-"

"Waaaait!" A voice calls out. A cavalier in green comes charging down the road on his steed. He barrels into our line, stopping just short of Chrom. "S-Sorry about that. No one told me about this, I just learned today when Maribelle dropped by on her way out!"

"But Vaike was supposed- VAIKE!" Chrom shouts, turning to glare at the man. "Did you forget to tell Stahl?"

"The Vaike never forgets!" The blond man scoffs, crossing his arms. "He just doesn't always remember is all…"

"Ugh, now I missed breakfast." The green knight grumbles, falling in next to Sully. "We were gonna have muffins and bacon…"

"We had soup." Sully says flatly. "You didn't miss much."

"I had predicted this situation." Miriel says, catching our attention. "Based on past behaviour, I made a prediction Vaike would neglect to inform Stahl once it was announced you would be visiting the bar, and as such-" she pulls out the muffin I noticed her take earlier and tosses it to Stahl, "-I came prepared."

Stahl's eyes light up as he catches the muffin and greedily devours it. When he finishes, he wipes the crumbs from his face, saying "thanks Miriel! You're the best!"

"Naturally."

"Well." Chrom coughs. "If that's everyone, we should go."

And so we do. With Fredrick and Chrom in the lead, we set off down the road and out of the city, starting our journey to Regna Ferox.

"This is so exciting!" Lissa whispers to me as we pass through the main gate. Her exhaustion is overshadowed by her usual peppiness now that she has food in her stomach. "Just think, in two weeks we'll get to see a whole other culture!"

"Yeah, I-" hold up, what was that? "Wait, two weeks?"

"Well yeah, we're not exactly on the border here." The princess giggles. "What, did you think this would be a one day trip? We wouldn't need wagons if that were the case."

"Are we all gonna be sleeping on twigs or something every night?" I sigh.

"Of course not, that's what the backpack is for!" Lissa says, pointing to the bag on my back. "You've got a sleeping roll in there you know!"

"Really?"

"Yeah, did you never look at what you had?"

"No, I just knew it was heavy." I shrug. "I thought it had rocks or something."

"Rocks in a backpack?" The princess laughs. "Sure Robin."

"Don't laugh, we had to carry backpacks full of rocks for training." Stahl grumbles behind us. "Not fun."

"It wasn't that hard ya wimp." Sully scoffs.

"For you maybe. The rest of us aren't training fanatics." The green knight retorts.

"Well you should be!" The redhead insists. "How else do you expect to improve?"

"By making people shiny!" I chirp.

"You can't just fight, you need to practice out of combat too!" Sully points out.

"Hey, it's worked for me so far." I shrug.

"You only have two day's worth of memories, how would you know?" Sully crosses her arms, looking smug.

"I wouldn't, and I don't need to." I stick my tongue out at her. "I'm just that amazing."

"Don't come crying to me when you get a spear through the back because you can't outrun anyone." She sneers.

"Pfff, I'll be laughing as your slow butt lags behind." I taunt. "I bet you need your horse just to keep up!"

"Guys, guys, let's stop before this escalates." Stahl says soothingly, moving between us. "Okay?"

"Fine." Sully huffs, looking away.

"Yeah yeah." I roll my eyes. "Whatever you say greenie."

Sully just doesn't realize how amazing I am is all…

* * *

 **Did a few minor changes to the previous chapters. Just making them a bit more consistent, a few grammar edits and such.**


	9. Camp

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.**

 **It's so different writing this instead of** _ **Five Stars**_ **. There's so many characters to keep track of, and many I don't feel confident writing. Ah well, hopefully this will expand my comfort zone a bit.**

* * *

VIRION

The sun starts to lower in the sky as we set up a small camp. Twelve tents arranged in a circle just off one of Ylisse's main roads. We finished the day's march between two destinations, being two small farming villages located in Ylisstol's surrounding area.

Dinner is on the boil, with another hour until it's complete. With little else to do, I search for a certain lady in hopes of keeping her attention for a bit.

"Greetings Milady." I greet with a charming smile. "How does the day find you so far? I hope the march was not too hard on you."

"Virion." Reflet says flatly, nodding her head in acknowledgement. It looks like she's just finished puzzling out how to put up her tent. "I'm fine."

"I am glad. Incidentally, are you occupied at the moment?" I ask.

"No." She responds. "Why?"

"I wish to ask if you would honor me with a game Milady." I say, pulling out a game I had procured last night before coming back to the barracks. It's much cheaper than I would usually settle for, but function is more important than form here. These pieces will need to be durable to survive army life. "Are you familiar with chess?"

"Sounds familiar." She hums. "I'll play."

After finding a place to sit (which turns out to be near the fire where someone has placed logs to sit on) I set up the game and explain the rules.

"-and the rook can move as many spaces as it wishes, horizontally or vertically, so long as it does not contact another piece." I finish. "Does this explanation suffice?"

"Uh huh." She nods. "Let's give this a try."

"Of course, I'll start." I make a standard opening move of pawn to d4, and the game begins.

It takes less than ten moves for me to win, leaving Reflet staring at the offending pieces with a curious expression on her face. I sit back, glad that my skills haven't faltered too much in the time I've spent away from my home.

"Chess is a tactician's game my dear." I chuckle, watching as she moves about the pieces and replays the last few turns. "You must know _exactly_ what all your pieces can do at all points of the game. Not only that, but the mere threat of doing something can be just as effective as actually doing it."

"And I tried to brute-force my way through." The lady murmurs, tapping her captured queen with a slightly furrowed brow. It's startling to see actual emotion on her face, however minor. "I see… Play me again?"

"Of course Milady, it would be my pleasure." I smile.

The next few games are wildly inconsistent. Reflet tried a myriad of different moves, some incredibly risky and some very defensive. Her setups are telegraphed, her reactions suboptimal, but the gleam of intelligence is there. Whether she realizes it or not, I can see the makings of some effective moves in her playstyle, which are usually the ones she carries over from game to game. She seems to develop a standard response to my opening by the fifth game, usually starting off with e6, or the Horwitz Defence.

"A flexible move." I comment as she uses the same response once again. I shift my cavalier to f3. "It lends itself well to merging into other defences."

"I wouldn't know." Reflet hums. "I just liked it because the queen and the mage can both get out."

"Indeed, but there is more to it than just that." I motion to the two squares attacked by the pawn. "These two spaces are now dangerous territory for me, and a safe haven for yourself. Not only that, but your queen and mage currently attack two diagonal lines, even if they haven't moved out, which makes it dangerous for me to move pieces there."

"Oh…" She murmurs, eyeing the two pieces. "I see."

"Let's check just how well." I chuckle. "En guard!"

CHROM

"Ugh…" Lissa sighs from her seat on the log. She watches Reflet and Virion play chess from across the fire as dinner cooks, but it's clear she has something on her mind.

I, who had just come back from making sure everything was set up, sit down beside her, saying "well that doesn't sound good."

"Hmm? Oh, hi Chrom." My sister mutters. "Say, do I seem like a princess to you?"

"If you aren't, you owe us some rent on-"

"Yeah, yeah, very funny. Just answer the question." She interrupts, rolling her eyes.

"Of course you seem like one. What brought this on?" I ask.

"It's just… I feel so inadequate next to you and Emm." She mumbles, looking down at the fire.

"What a ridiculous thing to say." I scoff, standing back up.

"Hey!"

"What? It's the truth. You're fine how you are." I walk off, giving her a wave as I do so. "You're fine how you are Lissa."

"Don't give me that cliche stuff and walk off!" She shouts after me. "Chrom, Chrom!"

I hear her get up to follow me, and make a quick dash over to the wagons, ducking around tents as I do so. Lissa's footsteps sound lightly on the ground as she runs after me. She's somewhat hampered by that dress of hers and I manage to get enough of a lead so that I can duck inside one of the wagons when I reach them without Lissa noticing.

"Chrooom! Where'd you go?" My sister calls. I can hear her footsteps right outside, so I duck low behind some crates. "Get out here and give me a proper answer! Chroooom!"

Lissa's voice trails off. After a minute or two, I risk peering out of the vehicle, pushing aside the curtains blocking the entrance as I do. When I don't see her around, I breath a sigh of relief and step out of the wagon.

I don't want to run away from her, but I don't really have an answer that would satisfy her. She's fine as she is, and I'm comfortable leaving it at that, even if I have to hide in wagons to do so.

"You better not be sneaking a beer Captain." A dry voice quips from behind me. "Wouldn't want Fredrick getting on your case."

"Oh gods no, I can just imagine the lecture." I grunt, turning to face our quartermaster. "How was the ride? I know this is your first time travelling out of Ylisstol. Thoughts so far?"

Emmet purses his lips, hands fiddling with the hilt of his sword. "It's a lot less exciting than I expected. Travelling is dull."

"Walking or riding non stop for hours on end tends to provoke that reaction." I chuckle. "You'll get used to it."

"You mean my brain will go numb so I don't feel the pain of boredom." He snorts.

"Exactly, it only took me a few weeks." I grin as the boy sighs in resignation. "Remember, you signed up for this, literally."

"I signed up for doing paperwork, not this bullshit." He grumbles, kicking a rock.

I bark a laugh. "Hah! Most people would prefer travelling over sitting at a desk!"

"My desk has a comfortable chair. The wagon? Not so much." He gripes.

"At least you don't have to walk." I scoff.

"Hey, you chose to do that. Don't tell me Fredrick didn't offer to let you ride." Emmet smirks.

"I can't deny that." I admit, raising my hands in defeat. "You got me."

"Milord."

Emmet's reaction is instant. He whips out his sword and points it at the intruder, taking a defensive leap back as he does so.

Fredrick stares dispassionately at the crackling sword leveled at his face, and slowly reaches up and pushes the point down with one finger. "I believe we've talked about aiming swords at allies?"

"I believe we've talked about not sneaking up on me." Emmet shoots back, still twitching with adrenaline.

My second-in-command scoffs. "Please, that was not stealth. If I had truly wished to sneak-"

"Let it go Fredrick." I say warningly. It's not that Fredrick is wrong, I just know from experience how stubborn Emmet can be and don't want to deal with an argument. When Emmet's mouth turns to a victorious snarl, I add: "You too Emmet."

The knight clamps his mouth shut, glowering all the while at our quartermaster. Emmet takes a few steps away from us, sword still out, and disappears around the corner of the wagon, shooting Fredrick one last glare.

Sighing, I turn to my second-in-command. "What is it Fredrick?"

"Dinner is prepared Milord." The knight informs me. "Sumia and Stahl have finished cooking."

"Thank you Fredrick." I say duly. That wasn't worth the interruption at all, but I don't want to be rude. He means well. I allow him to escort me to the fire, and dinner. Hopefully I can at least get a good meal before turning in tonight.

* * *

 **First few support conversations going through.**


	10. Misstep

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.**

* * *

CHROM

It was just another normal day of travelling up until the farmhand came running up to us.

"Halp! Milords, I'm beggin ya!" The boy shouts, stumbling towards us. He has slightly tanned skin, ratty old clothes, and an old pot on his head as a makeshift helmet.

"Slow down." I say, planting my hands on his shoulders. "Take a breath, and tell us what happened."

The boy takes a deep breath, his cheeks puffing out like a chipmunk. He lets the air out explosively and speaks in a frantic pace. "Bandits milord! They're attackin' ma village! You gots to help us yer graciousfullness!"

"Milord, we should consider careful inve-" Fredrick starts.

"Shepherds, we move immediately!" I shout, rallying my team.

"Or that." My second-in-command sighs. "It seems I'll never teach you the value of scouting..."

"Emmet, stay with the wagons!" I order, "the rest of you-"

"Hold it." Emmet snaps. "You think I can defend this by myself?"

"Er-"

"Milord, it would be prudent to leave a few of us behind to protect the wagons. They _are_ much slower than us." Fredrick murmurs.

"Fine." I grunt. "Reflet, Robin, any suggestions?"

Reflet hums as she thinks. "I think... Sully and Sumia."

"Hell no!" Sully cries. "I ain't staying out of the fight!"

"You're strong. We need someone strong to stay back. We need Fredrick, so you're the other choice." Reflet says flatly.

"Tch, fine." The redhead huffs. "If there's _no_ other choice."

"Thank you Sully." I sigh in relief. I turn to the farmhand. "Lead on, mister…?"

"D-Donnel sir!" The boy stammers. "F-Follow me milords!"

The rest of us jog after Donnel as he scrambles down the path. Our wagons slowly fade from view behind us as the rumble slowly along.

We make good time down the path, running at a steady pace. Even Lissa and Miriel, who aren't usually the most athletic, keep up with the rest of us sporting determined looks. Very soon we start seeing farmland, barns, and wood houses. Donnel leads us past all of them though, heading for the village center.

All in all, I'd say it took us half an hour of running to get to the center. That's a relatively short time, meaning most of the farms must be on the other side of the village or this is an absolutely _tiny_ community. We spot the brigands easily as we approach, as they are still running amok, looting everything in sight. A few spot us as we run up, and call for help.

"Brigands!" I yell, pulling my sword from its sheath as the rest of the Shepherds pull up beside me. "Surrender now, and I might spare your lives!"

"How gracious of you!" A particularly bulky man calls back with a sneer. The bone helmet clearly marks him as the leader. "But I'm gonna have to say no! You high and mighty Ylissians can't match us! Run off while you still can, princey!"

"That is not an option." I say firmly. "Prepare yourself!"

A few bandits settle into position in the village, weapons at the ready and prepared to cover for the others that are still looting. I spot a few archers, which could make this problematic, but most of them are axe-users. I turn to Reflet expectantly.

"Move in squads." The tactician grunts, pulling out her axe. "Virion, you, me. Robin, Vaike, Stahl. Miriel, Kellam, Donnel. Fredrick, you ferry Lissa between teams."

We all assemble into our assigned teams, keeping to the forest edge to for cover from the archers. When Reflet gives the order, we split apart, each team circling around to a different side of the village. Fredrick reluctantly follows Miriel's group on Reflet's orders, and I sternly tell Lissa to be careful as they leave.

"Ah, sending the healer after the farmhand." Virion murmurs. "Good thinking Milady."

Reflet just nods and motions us forward. We dash quickly over the open space between the forest and the village, not wanting to make ourselves targets for the archers. Granted, Virion effortlessly shoots down any archer foolish enough to show their face, but a little caution never hurt anyone.

The first bandit jumps us as as soon as we move around to the first building. My head would have gotten chopped off were it not for Reflet blocking with the shaft of her axe.

Incidentally, axe handles are just wood, so while I'm thankful for my head, Reflet is now down a weapon. Luckily, this doesn't hamper her ability to take out the bandit, as she promptly grabs his weapon, knees the man in the groin, smashes him with the butt of his own weapon, and then stomps on his windpipe when he falls over.

It's a rather brutal kill, but at least Reflet has a weapon again, even if it is bronze.

Rather than prowling around to pick off bandits, we move straight for the village center, hoping to find the bandits' leader. We take out a few more axe wielders on the main path before an arrow flies at us and sinks into my thigh.

To my credit, I don't fall to the floor. My hiss of pain prompts swift action from Virion, who nails the offending archer between the eyes.

"That is what accuracy looks like." The man huffs as he kneels down next to me. "He couldn't even aim properly."

The turquoise-haired man tugs the arrow out of my leg, causing me to to flinch mightily. He than hands me a bright blue bottle.

"Take only a sip." He murmurs. "The whole thing would be quite overkill."

I do as he says. The liquid tastes like mint and apple, which I recognize as an elixir. No wonder he says only a sip, this is powerful stuff, and probably not worth using on such a small wound to begin with.

"Thank you." I grunt, passing it back. "But isn't that unnecessary for such a minor injury?"

"You are our captain, we can't exactly do without you." The man scoffs. He nocks an arrow and shoots it off down the road. An approaching bandit screams in pain as the arrow slams into his chest, and is silenced by the follow up shot. "I'd much rather waste a valuable healing item than have you die from another hit."

A few more turns leads us to the village center, and lo and behold there lies the leader with a few archers sitting around him.

"Well princey, I'm surprised you haven't turn tail and run." He spits. "Ylissian brats like you usually aren't so stubborn. Guess I'll have to break you myself!"

"Presuming I don't shoot you first." Virion mutters, taking aim.

"Take care. An arrow could swiftly end any of our lives." Reflet murmurs. "Scatter, so they can't shoot at the whole group at once."

We break off from each other, and the archers take that as their cue to start shooting. I duck behind the nearest house and an arrow slams into the wood just around the corner. I can see Virion across the street. He quickly pokes out from his spot to fire off a shot before ducking back.

Realizing I can't move down the road, I move around the houses, trying to circle around to the back. I nearly smash into Stahl and co. who are fighting a squad of axe users, and are outnumbered three to one. I take a few down as I charge through, but don't stop to help.

Looking through the gaps between the houses I can see one of the archers stagger as an arrow embeds itself in his shoulder. I take a sharp turn to charge down the nearest road, and burst out with a wild swing to finish him off. The lead bandit takes a swing at me, forcing a parry. It's only too late that I notice the other archer taking aim at me.

Pain lances through my body as I fall backwards onto the dirt. My vision blurs and by breath becomes ragged. I think it punctured a lung. I reach weakly for my sword, which has fallen a few feet away.

"Sorry I can't gload Princey, but I've got an archer to kill." The bandit sneers, raising his axe over my prone form.

Just as I forgot the archer, the bandit clearly forgot Reflet. A thin blade of wind slices through the air, staggering the chief, and Reflet buries her axe into his neck a second later.

"NEVER." The girl hisses vehemently, yanking her weapon free. Her usually blank face is sharpened into a fierce glare. Through my swimming vision and rapid loss of sight, I can see her bull-rush the remaining archer, brutally hacking him apart in a vengeful fit.

I can faintly hear Virion calling for Lissa as I finally slip into unconsciousness. The last thing I see is Reflet kneeling over me, axe dripping with blood, reaching down towards me.

VRION

The situation has swiftly gone south. Despite my giving Chrom the rest of my elixir, he is yet to regain consciousness. Reflet has hauled him into the nearest building, Lissa has arrived and his frantically healing him, and Fredrick is glaring murderously at both us. I have a feeling we'll be hearing some strong words later, nevermind that it was the captain's rashness that prompted this whole situation.

On the bright side, it seems that the village has been cleaned of bandits. Aside from Ourselves though, everyone has spread out again to search for survivors.

"Well." Fredrick growls, gripping his lance so tightly I'm worried it will break. "Care to explain?"

"The captain made a poor call and moved in too early." I say coolly, meeting the man's gaze. I refuse to be blamed for something I didn't do.

"And you clearly didn't follow." The knight seeths.

"Need I remind you, dear fellow, that I am an _archer_." I respond icily. "And that I do not carry a sword into battle."

"I know perfectly well." He snaps.

"Both of you, shut up!" Lissa yells, affixing us both with a steely gaze. "Either help, or leave! I have a patient here!"

Fredrick purses his lips and falls silent, still glaring at me. I do that same, and we have a silent staring match as Lissa continues to heal the captain. Reflet stands just behind her, staring intently as the girl does her work. After a minute or two, Lissa stops and sighs.

"He'll be fine, but out for at least another few hours. We shouldn't move him until he wakes." The cleric says, slumping back to rest after the exhaustive healing. "I'm think I'm going to rest as well. I'm pooped."

"Then we will take our leave Milady." I murmur. "Come Reflet, we should give space."

The girl turns her stare to me and her brow furrows, clearly not happy with the suggestion, but she doesn't resist when I pull her out by the arm.

"Do not frown my dear, it ill suits such a pretty face." I say softly. "You heard the girl, the captain will be perfectly alright."

"That was _my_ plan." The bronze-skinned girl growls. "And it got him hurt."

"If everything was perfect, then our skills in war would not be necessary." I chastise. "A plan can fail, that doesn't make it your fault."

"We should have stayed as a group…" The girl mutters with a far off look. "Snuck around the back, jumped the archers, ganged up on the boss..."

"And so you have learned, so that next we come upon a situation such as this, you know what to do." I offer. "Take this as a lesson."

"To not get overconfident." Reflet sighs. "I understand."

"Good." I nod. "Now then, let's organize camp for tonight yes? The captain won't be moving, so neither shall we."

* * *

 **This is an awkward chapter. I won't deny it. I'm not fantastic at writing fights, and the whole 'chrom get's shot' part is badly paced. Whatever, I'll learn eventually, but for now it sucks.**

 **In case you're wondering, Reflet picked up the wind tome a while ago, back when it was just her, Virion, and Sully. She just never really had a reason to use it.**


	11. Longfort

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.**

* * *

DONNEL

"Look Ma, I want to help." I say pleadingly. "You gots to let me!"

"I'll do no such thing!" Ma huffs, crossing her arms over her slightly portly frame. "You have no place lording around with royals! You're not fit for-"

"Actually!" A voice interrupts. "He'd be a nice addition to the team! We could always use more help!" The white-haired boy smiles as he shoots down Ma's excuse. "Besides, it's not like we only have nobles here!" He turns his head. "Vaike! Say hi!"

"Heya!" The blonde man yells from where he's resting against a tree. He grins at me. "You ever need help, just ask Teach!"

"Thank you kindly!" I call back. "See Ma? I'll be in good hands. I'll become a right fine fighter with their help. That way I can defend the village when I come back."

"B-But…" Ma's eyes dart wildly before she sighs in defeat, her whole body slumping. "I suppose you're a grown boy, you can make your own decisions. Just come back alive, alright Donny?"

"Of course Ma." I say, giving her a tight hug. "I won't be lettin' you down."

###

"Lordy, are these buggers normal outside the village?" I ask in slight awe, watching the Risen shamble towards us. I adjust my grip on the bronze lance in my hand, the adrenaline making me twitchy.

"Not until a week ago they weren't." The captain grunts, still breathing heavily from the march. His chest hasn't healed yet from the wound he suffered defending the village, but he still wants to fight. I wish I had his courage. "They're strong, but not all that bright. Stay light on your toes and you should be fine."

"Stay next to me. I shall see us through alive." The captain's knight, Fredrick, pulls up in front of us, his lance shining brightly in the sunlight. "That means you too Milord, you are still not well."

The blue-haired noble huffs, but doesn't argue. Instead, he pulls himself upright and draws his sword. "Let's go hear what Robin and Reflet have come up with."

If I was s'pecting a big fancy plan, I should learn better. Guess you don't need some big strategy for every fight, 'cause all we got told to do was walk behind some other guys and stab anything close enough. Even that was nerve wracking though. I never stabbed a zombie before, and it's just as scary as I thought it would be. The thing keeps scraping away at me even as it's stuck on mah weapon, even though it's own weapon is lying right on the ground next to it. Only when Milord slices its head right off does it finally stop moanin' and disappear.

"Holy…" I breath, my hands shaking.

"Keep focus Donnel." The captain says firmly. "If they get stuck, just kick them off and stab again. Above all else, don't lose your weapon."

"Yessir!" I nod rapidly. "Thank you Milord sir!"

The three of us keep marching just behind the front line, with Fredrick acting as a buffer between us and the Risen missed by the others. I stay three steps behind the knight, leaning to only come out and attack the weakened enemies and leaving the strong ones to Fredrick and the captain.

"Pick a god and pray!" The knight yells, dashing forward to skewer a particularly strange Risen with a sack over it's head and gooey legs. Despite its looks, it disappears like all the others. I look on in awe as the tall man slices down several other zombies that come even remotely close.

" _I wanna be like that someday._ " I think, watching the man confidently stride back on his horse. " _A genuine knight…_ " I firm up my grip on my lance. " _Gotta try hard then! Not gettin' anything done standin' here!_ " I locate the closest enemy I can and bear down on it. "Yeeehaaaw!"

My lance flashes with surprising precision into the soldier's skull, killing it instantly. As the body fades, its iron lance falls to the ground. I quickly scoop it up, figuring that I might as well use it rather than just leavin' the thing here.

"Nicely done." The captain remarks, striding up next to me. "Now, let's finish them off! I only see a few more!"

"Got it Milord! I'm ready for this!" I cheer, hoisting my new weapon. " _I'mma be a great warrior, just you all watch me!_ "

CHROM

Gods it's cold out here. For once, I'm glad for Fredrick's excessive care, as it means we all have plenty of blankets and warm clothes for the ride. Even Vaike bundles up for the cold, despite his preference for going shirtless.

"Ugh, I'm still freezing." My sister whines from beside me. Despite having three layers on, her nose is still red from the cold.

"It's not bad." Reflet says calmly. Unlike the rest of us, she's still wearing her usual attire, but has closed the front buttons of her vest. "Just a little chill."

"Just a little?!" Lissa groans. "This is torture!"

"Fear not M-Milady!" Virion stutters, trying hard to keep up noble appearances in the frigid temperature, "Virion shall gladly donate his own-"

"No you won't." Reflet says curtly. "You're cold enough as is, don't go giving away your coat."

"B-But the lady is clearly-" The rossanite protests.

"-no more deserving than yourself." The tactician replies curtly. "You're equal on layers right now, so don't give her anymore."

"What s-sort of gentleman would that make me?" The man scoffs.

"A sensible one." Reflet states.

"C'mon Reflet, I'm cold though!" Lissa whines.

"So is Virion, you'd prefer he freeze so you can get marginally warmer?" The bronze-skinned girl retorts scathingly.

My sister grumbles a bit, but doesn't argue further.

"I can see the border up ahead." Fredrick says, peering out through the falling snow.

"Good." I grunt. Raising my voice, I call out "Shepherds, remember! Your actions reflect on Ylisse! Be on your best behaviour!"

The grumbles all around me say that everyone heard, and that we should get out of this blizzard as soon as possible. We trudge along for several minutes until we are a minute's distance from stone fort. I can see one of the soldiers running off as, presumably to get the captain, as several others take up positions with bows and javelins at the ready.

Our patience is rewarded when a woman in full armor stomps up to the edge of the fort.

"State your business!" She snaps coldly.

"I am Prince Chrom of Ylisse. I request audience with the Khan!" I yell, straining to make my voice heard over the wind and my injury. I can feel faint pains in my chest from the action.

"Sure, and I'm Walhart himself!" The fort captain scoffs. "Begone brigands, or we'll show you out forcefully!"

"Now see here!" Fredick shouts, urging his horse forward a few strides. "You have no right to speak to the captain in such a manner."

Even from our distance, I swear I can see the woman sneer. "You think you are the first to try and pass as Ylissians here? I have the authority to end such foolishness right here." She points her lance at us. "If you are truly royalty, prove it on the battlefield!" She whirls around and stomps off. As she does so, the archers on the wall nock their bows and shoot down at me.

Fredrick snarls and moves his horse in front of me. The arrows glance off his armor, barely scratching the reinforced metal. A few javelins are thrown our way, but fall short as the wind knocks them aside.

"To arms!" Reflet calls, rallying our freezing troupe. Skins are shrugged off and weapons are drawn, and Reflet swiftly goes about organizing an attack. Rather than myself, Robin heads the offence. He zips through the snow, dodging arrows and javelins with surprising ease as the cavaliers struggle to keep up with him; their horses bogged down by the slush.

"Kellam, Fredrick, Vaike! Take the left side!" Reflet shouts, pointing with her axe. "Robin and those two have the right! Everyone else, focus on those archers!"

"Er, pardon me yer tactifullness-"

"Donnel, stay with Chrom and Sumia. The rest of us will blaze a path, you three pick off the extras."

"Gotch'a."

"Remember Reflet, we don't want to kill anyone." I say urgently. "We come in peace, more or less."

"Of course." The tactician mutters. "Leave it to me." She raises an arm and fires a blade of wind from a tome I didn't realize she had. Along with Miriel and Virion they manage to keep the archers from bothering our ground units too much.

From our position way back from the actual fight, I can see as Robin and Fredrick blow through their respective sides of the fort. The poor feroxi soldiers are knocked around like footballs as the Shepherds storm past. Each side's small gate is handled differently, with Robin scrambling up the wall to open his from the inside, and Fredrick simply finding a key from the wounded soldiers to unlock his.

"Alright, that's our cue!" Reflet call, putting away her tome. "Let's move!"

From what I could see, the fight was an absolute cakewalk. Through the whole fort I can see soldiers groaning on the floor as we stride by. There are a few fresh soliders that emerge as we pass, but Reflet easily disposes of them with quick smacks from her axe. Donnel and I only get a few cuts in as we progress.

These soldiers might be professional, but the Shepherds' individual skills are far beyond what a few feroxi soldiers have to offer, even with their unit training. Small unit combat and skirmish battles are our expertise.

The Captain's voice suddenly rises loud and clear over the fight. "Let battle sound out the truth of your words!" She calls.

With very few feroxi left standing, I have a clear line of sight to where Robin and Fredrick are picking the captain apart. Her lance flies wide as Robin easily sidesteps the thrust, and Fredrick responds with a solid thrust to her shoulder. When the Captain tries to swing at Fredrick, Robin whips a ball of fire at her face. They switch the Captain between the two of them, and eventually wear the woman down.

Finally, the Captain is knocked on her back from a swipe by Fredrick. Robin immediately jumps on her chest, his hand flickering with fire as he grins down at her and threatens with his magic when she reaches for her weapon.

"I… yield." The woman grinds out, clearly not happy with having to say it. "Now, what do you want?"

"Just as I said." I say firmly, walking up to the woman and offering a hand. She looks at me in surprise, but accepts the help up. "We wish an audience with the Khan. We have urgent business."

"A thousand apologies Prince Chrom." The woman bows. "I truly mistook you for brigands. They have oft troubled our borders of late, pretending to be yourself. I will personally escort you to the capital, and send word ahead of your arrival."

"My thanks Captain…?"

"Rami sir."

"My thanks Captain Rami." I say, giving a shallow bow in reply, which surprises her. "We appreciate the escort. My men are tired from a cold march, and the added protection is very welcome."

Rami gives me a small grin. "The feroxi cold gets to even the best of us Prince Chrom. We'll have the kitchen make some hot soup before the march. I know my own troops would appreciate it as well after the thrashing you just gave them."

"Perhaps I did go a bit too far." Reflet mutters from just behind me. "Sorry about that."

"Hah! Don't be humble about your strength!" The Captain barks in a laugh. "It's incredible as is that you managed to get through without killing any of us!" She waves us inside, limping slightly from her injuries. "Now follow me, I'm sure your men are eager to get out of the cold."

* * *

 **It was rather difficult to choose who would be the point of view for the second half of this chapter. I settled on Chrom because he would allow for a look on the whole fight rather than being bogged down in the thick of the fray.**


	12. In Ferox

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.**

 **So, uh, how do I say this… I don't know how well this story is going. It's not horrible (by my standards anyways) but it's rather… generic? I mean, there are a few things I have in mind, but I'm basically just re-skinning the original story and not adding enough of my own stuff. Not like** _ **Five Stars**_ **, where the story changes enough to be considered a reinterpretation.**

 **I don't know if I'm setting my standards too high for this though. I've honestly considered scrapping this and just doing something more along the lines of a one-shot collection (with continuity, if not necessarily in order).**

 **Based on views this story is doing fine, but… ugh, I dunno. There's stuff I really want to get to, but I really don't know how to set up for it. I don't have skill in writing so much as I have luck.**

 **I'll keep this going for now.**

* * *

ROBIN

"So, what's the Khan like?" I chirp, poking Chrom in the cheek to get his attention. "Huh? Huh? Surely you know!"

We, alongside Reflet and Fredrick, are standing in a large stone hall, decorated with simple tapestries and a single red carpet that rolls down the center of the room.

"I've never seen him." The Prince admits. "Ylisse and Ferox aren't exactly allies, moreso we just let each other be. There's never been need for talks of any sort that couldn't be handled by lesser officials."

"Oh, I can see him now." I cackle. "A big, hairy man the size of a mountain…"

"Am I now, do go on." A distinctly female voice scoffs from behind me. I whirl around with a squeak, coming face to face with who I presume is the Khan. She has her arms crossed, but sports an amused grin. "I want to hear this."

The Khan is a tall woman with dark brown skin and blond hair. Her red armor obscures a good portion of her body (as it should, or else it wouldn't be good armor!), her exposed arms give me a glimpse of sharply defined muscles and scars that speak of experience. A leader with the strength to back it up, like Chrom.

"Er, you are the Khan I presume?" Chrom coughs.

"One of them. I'm the East Khan, Flavia. Apologies for your troubles at the border, you are welcome in Regna Ferox Prince Chrom." The warrior nods.

"That's quite alright. I'm sure we can put that behind us. Is it true though that bandits have been impersonating Ylissians at the border?" The prince asks.

"Indeed, those Plegian dogs." Flavia grunts. "We found orders instructing as much on the corpses of some of their captains."

"Damn them." Chrom snarls, briefly forgetting himself. "Erm, that is to say-"

"Pah, speak plainly Prince. We prefer it here!" The warrior laughs.

"Then maybe you should have a word with your damn border guards." The Prince grumbles.

"Now _that_ is Feroxi diplomacy!" Flavia chuckles. "I like you already Prince! I know why you've come, but unfortunately can't provide the troops you seek."

"What?!" I interrupt, "Why?"

"As I said, I am only one of the Khans… and not the reigning one. West-Khan Basillio currently holds the crown." The Warrior explains.

"Why didn't you send us away immediately then?" Reflet grunts.

"Because there's still a way to get the troops you need. There's a tournament happening in three days to determining who becomes head Khan. If you champion me, and win, I'll give you that alliance and your troops." Flavia smirks. "Up for it?"

"Of course." Chrom agrees instantly. "Though, if you don't mind me asking, why do the Khans not fight themselves?"

"We'd have dead Khans and feuds everywhere." The warrior snorts. "No thank you."

"Fair enough…" He sighs.

"Don't think this will be easy though; Basillio's champions are no pushovers. I should know, my troops lost to them last time!" Flavia warns.

"They will be defeated by necessity Khan Flavia." Fredrick says with absolute conviction. "However, if we are done, I would like the Prince to rest. We have had a long day's march."

"Fredrick!" Chrom hisses. "Not now!"

"Hah! A good man you have here!" The Khan laughs. "He knows your limits! Go on Prince, take your rest. We'll speak again at dinner." With that, the lady turns and walks out, the guards at the door moving aside to permit her through.

When she's out of sight, Chrom turns to us. "That was… unexpected."

"No kidding! I was expecting a pirate or something!" I chirp.

"No, the tournament, and Flavia not being the reigning Khan." Chrom says with a shake of his head.

"We will win Milord." Fredrick comforts, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"I hope so Fredrick…"

STAHL

"Sorry for making you waste it on a simple stomachache." I mutter, feeling a tad sheepish.

"Geeze, and it wasn't even badly-prepared food." Lissa sighs, hoisting her staff. The tip glows softly. "You ate too much Stahl!"

"They had snow duck! Snow duck! How could I pass that up?!" I ask, remembering the taste fondly. "Feroxi snow duck is a famous delicacy, I couldn't miss the opportunity!"

"I can understand the duck, but how about that hare, and the pie, and that roll of cheese?" She says pointedly, giving me a little glare.

"Okay, okay, I went a bit overboard..." I grumble, rubbing my arm. "But there's no guarantee I'd be able to taste them later!"

"We're here for at _least_ two more days Stahl! Probably a week if we win so the alliance can be put to paper! Pace yourself!" She groans in exasperation. She pokes me in the chest with the staff. "If this happens again, I'm not helping! That'll teach you a lesson!"

"Come on Lissa, have pity on a teammate would you?" I chuckle weakly.

"Nope!" The princess crosses her arms. Her pigtails bounce as she sticks up her nose. "I refuse."

"Heh, well at least you're not Maribelle." I grunt, standing up. "She wouldn't even have helped me _this_ time."

"That's probably a better idea!" She huffs. "Don't let my niceness go to waste!"

"Alright, alright. I'll try and pace myself." I agree reluctantly. I know she's right, I just like food okay?

"Uh huh." Lissa says disbelievingly. "Right, sure."

"Didn't you just tell me to?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, doesn't mean I think you'll listen." She scoffs. "Watch, tomorrow you'll come whining back with another ache."

"I'll prove you wrong!" I smirk. "Just watch!"

"Watch you eat? No thanks." She sticks out her tongue at me. "Just don't complain to me tomorrow and I'll consider it a pass."

"I'll do so with flying colors!" I quip.

"Sure you will. Assuming they don't get another duck tomorrow." She sighs.

"Ohh… maybe they'll spear a boar." I salivate.

"Better hope they don't. I was serious about not healing you again!" She warns.

"C'mon, what if they really do though?"

" _No_ Stahl."

"Okay, okay…"

"Stahl!" Sully's voice calls from down the hall. Her head pokes through the doorway of Lissa's room. "Just where Sumia said you were."

"Er, what is it?" I ask.

"Training of course! There's a tournament we're gonna be a part of in three days! Gotta get our training in!" She says, grabbing my arm and hauling me out into the hall.

I cast a pleading look at Lissa, hopefully saying 'help!', but she just grins at me and waves cheekily, mouthing 'good luck!' My face falls and the princess laughs as I'm dragged down the hall and into muscle-burning hell.

ROBIN

"Reflet…" I say slowly. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but, you can see things, right?"

The two of us are sitting in our shared room, each on our respective beds. I have my tomes out, and am studying them. My knowledge of how magic actually works is rather limited, I just know how to shoot the stuff. It's like knowing that a grain mill grinds grain and how to use it, but now _how_ it grinds the grain. Reflet is lying on her back, absently poking at the air. It's this particular action that sparked some sort of recognition in my otherwise blank memory.

"Things?" She ask softly.

"Yeah. Something the rest of us can't." I scrunch my face. "I don't know what it is, but that's what you're doing right now, isn't it?"

My sister stares at me long and hard, judging how serious I am. I keep my face straight, for once I'm not joking around. I'm inferring a bit of information here, but I think my guess is right.

"You… Well, you're right." She grunts. "By the way, eighteen, seven, eight, twelve, fifteen, six, five, six."

"What?" I blink.

"Your stats. Hit points, strength, magic, skill, speed, luck, defence, resistance." She looks at me dispassionately. "You're kinda frail, I have to be careful when we're fighting anything but axe users. You don't hit very hard either, but have good avoid because of high speed."

"Oh, uh, what about you?"

"Twenty five, twelve, seven, eight, seven, six, nine, five. Tough, strong, but slow and inaccurate." She summarizes. "Not as much as Kellam though."

"Ooo… Can you see _anyone's_ stats?" I ask excitedly.

"Anyone in range." Refelt shrugs. "I have a map I can see, it's right here." She draws a square about a foot from her face. "I can get rid of it or summon it, and see lots of information. Stats, weapon proficiency, and inventory of individual people. Terrain and terrain bonuses of the area around us. Also, I can see class details and promotion paths. We're both tacticians, but I have a level in axes and you in swords."

"Anything juicy? Some hidden talents?" I bounce in my seat.

"Emmet can use staffs apparently. He also has a unique weapon proficiency for 'magic weapons'. Incidentally, he has that maxed out. Beyond that, Fredrick has at least one level in everything non-magical, and Chrom has a bit of experience in axes." She rattles off. "Also, we have a unique proficiency for 'unarmed', me more than you."

"Really? I haven't seen you punch at all." He murmurs. "Ah, whatever. That's cool though."

"Incidentally, Flavia outclasses us all by a mile." Reflet grunts. "I hope our opponents aren't that strong…"

"Yeah…"

"Oh, there's also these things called 'skills'. Special bonuses. You have 'avoid +10'. I have 'gamble'. We both have 'Veteran', it gives us more experience." She flicks her finger across the invisible surface. Her eyes flick from side to side, reading something I can't see.

"How have I not seen you doing this before?" I ask, suddenly weary.

"I'm usually a lot more subtle than this." She shrugs. "When I'm directing people around, I wave my arms."

"You're actually just moving the map?"

"Yep."

"That's genius."

"I know."

"Why don't you tell everyone though?"

"You actually think they'd believe me?"

"Point. Don't do that. They'd think you're crazy."

"Wasn't planning on it."

" _I'm_ the crazy one. You can't steal my reputation!" I grin.

"Oh, never." She snorts. "I could never take that away from you. So don't take away mine of being smarter than you."

"Hey!"

"Their words, not mine. I know you're smart."

"Well yeah… shush though, I'm crazy. Can't let them know!"

"Of course bro."

* * *

 **I'm a bit sad I didn't foreshadow this, but I'm tired of not being able to use Refelt's POV because of it.**

 **I was originally gonna do Stahl and Lissa's C support, but I changed it up to be more of a personality reflection than a backstory focused thing. Being honest though, it was more of an impulse thing. I just liked this better.**


	13. Second Discovery

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.**

* * *

MARTH

"Boy!" Basillio's loud voice booms through the room as he stomps in. "I got news for ya!"

I stop my training regime, glancing over at the large man marching across the room.

"Looks like Flavia got herself some mercs from Ylisse! Some lot called 'the Shepherds'." The big man grimaces. "So unfortunately, my old advice won't be that helpful."

Good, just like Father told me so long ago… "That is fine Khan Basillio." I say calmly. "I have adapted before, and will do so again."

"I'll say! No other way you could'a beat Lon'qu!" He barks out a laugh and claps me on the shoulder, causing me to stumble a bit due to the force behind it.

"Erm, Khan Basillio…"

"Yeah lad?"

"Those Shepherds are not any mercenaries. They are the Prince's personal squad." I tell him, knowing full well who they are.

"The Prince himself?" Basillio whistles. "Well that's something. Wonder what Flavia promised to get the damn Prince…"

"Rumors speak of a war brewing with Plegia." I offer. "Mayhaps he petitioned for help."

"Why didn't he just come to me then?" He grunts. "I would'a been more than willing to teach those Plegian dastards a lesson."

"Rumors also speak of Prince Chrom's… less than stellar diplomatic knowledge and skills." I cough. "There is a very good chance he simply came to the border and asked for the Khan, not knowing there was two, and Flavia talked him into competing so she could grant the alliance."

"Rather than pointing him to me." Basillio sighs. "That sly woman…" He chuckles a bit. "Bah, just as well. We won't go down without a fight!" The big man grins at me. "Isn't that right?"

"Of course! T'is not often I can prove myself against royalty!" I respond, grinning. He doesn't need to know I'm royalty as well. "If I may ask though, what of the Prince when we win?"

"He'll get his alliance, if that's truly what he came here for." The man grunts. "For a mercenary, you have quite the interest in diplomatic affairs."

"Political turmoil always gives plenty of opportunities for employment." I say. "Mayhaps I'll throw my lot in with the Ylissians once I win and they've seen my strength."

"So cocky! You remind me of myself, if somewhat skinnier!" Basillio laughs. "Good luck son, I'm counting on you!"

"I won't let you down Khan Basillio." I smirk. "The Prince won't know what hit him!"

MORGAN

A gentle breeze, the sound of running water… man I couldn't have asked for a better place to wake up with amnesia!

I yawn and sit up. I stretch my arms out to the side, humming as I feel my muscles lose their sleepy numbness. My coat, a rather fabulous piece of clothing from first look, weighs comfortably on my shoulders, like a nice blanket.

Looking around, I can see I'm in some sort of temple. It's a nice teal color for the most part, with intricate designs running up the many columns holding it up. The floor is strange, consisting of many square platforms with flowing water filling in the extra space. A large stream of it falls down from the center of the room, just a few meters from my currents position, and flows out to the edges of the room.

I'm also not alone, there are two other people here. One is sleeping, and looks like a female version of me; cloak and all. The other just looks like a normal guy. He's got some decent muscle on his frame, has an iron axe on his back, is probably a few years older than me (I'm guessing here, I have no idea how old I am, but he looks to be twenty or so), and is very much awake.

"Hi there!" I say cheerily, waving at him.

"Yo." He sighs, looking mildly irritated. "Are you Morgan, or Marc?"

"Morgan, I think." I offer. "I kinda have amnesia, so…"

"Right, my bad." He grunts. "Name's Nathan."

He seems oddly unperturbed at my amnesia, is this normal for him? "So I guess she's Marc?" I point at the sleeping girl.

"Probably." He shrugs. "Either that, or she's also Morgan."

"Whaaat? But _I'm_ Morgan!" I gasp. "Is she my doppleganger?"

"Maybe." Nathan grunts. "I don't know, and really don't care. By the way, I know you said you're an amnesiac, but there is _something_ you remember, isn't there?"

"I…" I squint my eyes, thinking hard. "Oh! Mother!"

"Good." He sighs. "Now, uh… I'll be honest, I have no idea where we are. Probably somewhere in Ferox, but that's the extent of my knowledge."

"You don't live around here?" I ask.

"It's a long story…" He trails off. His body language tells me that he'd prefer I don't push the issue.

"So… we're lost then?"

"Yep."

"Oh. Well cool, new adventure and all that!" I chirp, excited. "Excitement awaits!"

"That's one way to look at it." Nathan says tiredly. "We should probably wake Marc though."

"You don't know if that's her name!"

"Details." He grunts, moving over to the girl. The man kneels down and gently shakes her shoulder, prompting a groan from the tired figure.

"Daaad, go 'way…" She grumbles, rolling over and away from Nathan. "I'm tired…"

I watch in amusement as the girl continues to roll, and almost falls into the water around our platform. Nathan scoops her up before she can tumble off.

"Leggo, I'm up." She protests, wiping at her eyes. "Ugh Dad, I… you're not Dad."

"No duh." Nathan snarks. He puts the girl down on the floor, where she stands and wipes off her cloak. "I'm Nathan. You?"

"Marc." She greets. She notices me and smiles." Oh, hi! Who are you?"

"Morgan!" I chirp. "You look like me, are you my doppleganger?"

"No. Maybe you're _my_ doppleganger!" Marc suggests.

"No waaay!" I gasp. "That's so cool, I'm a copy person!"

"I almost guarantee you're not." Nathan says bluntly. "You're probably a part of the same family, hence the resemblance."

"Aw, but I want to be a copy guy…" I frown.

Nathan sighs, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Marc, do you have amnesia too?"

"Yeah! I just remember my dad…" She smile, gazing off in the distance with a faint look in her eyes. "A true master of tactics."

"That can't be right, because my _mom_ is a master of tactics!" I protest.

"You do realize 'master of tactics' isn't an exclusive title, right?" Nathan sighs. "Just like 'master chef' or 'professional soldier'."

"Oh." Marc blinks. "Uh… right."

"I totally knew that." I cough. "One hundred percent!"

"Childish…" Nathan shakes his head. "Why must I be stuck with children?"

"Hey! I'm fourteen... probably!" I pout.

"Me too!" Marc agrees.

"Whatever you say." The man rolls his eyes.

The sound of flapping wings catches us all off guard, we thought we were alone. Our heads all turn to the temple entrance just in time to see a squad of griffon riders burst through. Their skin is greyish, and their eyes glow red.

"Risen." I say, recognizing them. My memory is really inconsistent, isn't it? I frantically pat myself down, finding a bronze sword and a thunder tome. I can see Marc doing the same thing beside me, except she pulls out a wind tome and a bronze axe. Nathan pulls out his iron axe, looking a tad nervous. "Nathan," I ask, "how much combat experience do you have?"

He experimentally swings his axe, brow furrowing at something I don't notice. "I think I have a bit."

That's an odd response, but this whole situation is weird so I don't question.

"So, uh…" I stall. "What do we do?"

"You're both tacticians, aren't you?" Nathan glances at us. "You tell me."

"R-Right." I mutter, looking over the enemy. Beyond the griffon riders, they seem to have mostly barbarians and a mage or two. I think there's also a mercenary there. "Marc, what do you think?"

"Griffons are promotes. Gotta tag-team those." The girl mutters. "Too strong individually, even with the wind tome."

"You both need to stay away from the merc." I add. "Weapon triangle."

"Right." Marc says, letting out a slow breath. "I'm ready."

I look at Nathan and he growls a bit, fingers twitching on his weapon. "As I'll ever be…"

"Okay, let's stick together." I nod. "I'll take point."

With Nathan and Marc behind me, the three of us make our way across the platforms. Due to the zig-zag pattern of them, we get plenty of opportunities to use our tomes on the approaching Risen. However, Griffons don't really care about things such as 'land' or 'patterns', and make a beeline for us.

Me and Marc focus-fire the closest of the trio, using our tomes to great effect. He gets shot down before even taking a swipe. We aren't so lucky with the others. They get in easily, and take brutal swings at me and Marc that nearly take off our heads.

Nathan buries his axe into the first rider and gets kicked in the chest by the griffon for the effort. Sent sprawling, Nathan almost falls into the water and barely manages to stay on the platform by digging his gloved fingers into the ground.

A quick blast of wind unseats the problemsome Risen, and I execute it with a quick thrust of my sword. The griffon, however, poses a bit more of a problem, and pecks at me as I desperately backtrack, blocking with my sword.

A yell from Marc draws my attention. I can see the axe glance off shoulder, nearly causing her to drop her tome. Nathan, who had recovered by this point, runs up to Marc's foe and buries his axe deep in the griffon's flank, taking care to avoid the slashing claws this time. Rather than pull out the weapon, Nathan drags it along the body, opening a gruesome wound as the beast thrashes.

While all this is happening I'm still dodging a griffon of my own, and I can see the other Risen getting dangerously close by this point. Realizing I have to end this quick, I make the risky decision to roll under my foe. Claws slash my back, but I pull up quickly and stab my sword deep into the creature's gut. It vaporizes instantly, leaving me scratched but in relatively good shape.

With Nathan's unorthodox tactic, he and Marc manage to kill off the last duo. Marc pulls a vulnerary from one of her many pockets and chugs it down. I find a similar drink of my own person and take a sip as well, passing it to Nathan when I realize he doesn't have one. I can feel several others still in my pockets; good to see my past self didn't leave me unprepared.

A ball of fire soars through the air, and though it goes wide we quickly realize that the lack of cover in the temple is rather problematic. The approaching throng wedges us between them and flowing water on all sides, which would leave us as sitting ducks.

"I have a plan." Marc shouts, tensing. "Don't get bogged down in the fight, just stand at the choke point between platforms and knock them into the water! We can push through once enough of them are gone! Morgan, you don't have a good weapon for it, so just focus on executing whatever falls in!"

"Got it!" I nod, switching my sword for my tome. "Let's do this!"

I'm thankful that regular Risen aren't nearly as tough as the promoted griffon riders. With their heavy axes, Marc and Nathan effortlessly knock aside the approaching fighters, leaving me to gleefully boil them as they flail in the water. The mercenary eventually shows itself, and I make sure to shoot it down before it can pose problems for my axe-wielding allies.

The major problem is the mages still lined up on a platform some ways away. They're terribly inaccurate, but the constant hail of fire on our position is nerve-wracking. We're all forced to dodge at least a few shots, and Nathan suffers a few burns for being not as quick as us.

Eventually we thin the crowd enough for me and Marc to shoot us a path, and we barrel through (suffering a few nicks in the process). Now running from the hoard behind us, we lay fire on the mages we're rapidly approaching and finish them off as we run by. Their incredible frailty means they all fall in one hit, though I do suffer a shot to the chest.

My stumbling almost causes me to trip, and I'm only saved by Nathan hauling me off my feet and carrying me over his shoulder as he runs along. Without the need to run myself, I find a good opportunity to blast away at our pursuers and roast me some zombies as we escape the temple.

"Which way?" Marc asks, glancing all around us at the surrounding woods.

"Hell if I know, choose!" Nathan yells, putting me down.

"Didn't you come here?!" She snaps.

"Not exactly, but we need to move!" The man snarls. "They won't stay behind us forever!"

"This way!" I call, completely on impulse. I point to the stream leading out of the temple. "Let's follow the water!"

The three of us run off down the path, Risen trailing after us from the temple built into the mountainside. We soon vanish into the forest, leaving a confused hoard shambling about in our wake.

* * *

 **Originally this chapter was planned to have a Reflet POV for the second part, but it didn't fit. I had some internal debate on how to handle Marc, but settled with making her similar to her cousin.**


	14. Tournament

**Disclaimer** **: I don't own Fire Emblem Awakening.**

* * *

CHROM

The gate rattles closed behind us, and we all stand nervously at our end of the arena. There are seven fighters on each side. We have myself, Reflet, Robin, Fredrick, Lissa, Virion, and Miriel. The other side has two armor knights, two mages, a single soldier, and two sword wielders… one of which is Marth.

"We meet again!" I call as the crowd continues to settle into their seats.

Marth merely nods, not saying a word.

"Not much for talk I see? Well, I hope you know I can't go easy on you despite your help. In this arena, I represent the West Khan Flavia, and I shall defeat you by necessity!" I proclaim, pulling Falchion out.

"How arrogant." The boy calls back, a small smirk emerging on their face. "I think it is we who shall come out on top! We represent Basillio, the East Khan!" He also draws his sword, and it's at this point I notice something very startling.

Marth's sword is identical to mine.

"How…" I mutter. "Fredrick, I'm not seeing things, am I?"

"No Milord, I see it too." The knight grunts. "However, imitations of the Falchion are not unheard of. I would not worry unduly."

"Of course." I nod. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Flavia giving a signal, and realize it's almost time to start. "Everyone, form up!"

The Shepherds respond quickly. Myself, Reflet, and Fredrick all take our places on the front line with Fredrick at point. Virion and Miriel position themselves behind us, spaced just enough to minimize explosion damage from tomes. Robin is the odd one out, standing off to one side with tome and sword at the ready. Eagerness is reflected in his eyes as he scans our foes, and his hands twitch with energy.

"Alright then!" A loud voice booms over the stadium. The crowd quiets, and all heads turn towards one of the booths protruding from the stands. A large bald man with brown skin is standing there, arms crossed across his impressive chest. "The tournament for reigning Khan will now begin! Just as a formality, the rules are: no killing or dealing of permanent injuries, if the opponent surrenders you must stop your attack on them and they are to be allowed passage out of the ring, otherwise they are defeated when unable to fight! First team to defeat the other wins, understand?!"

Marth and myself nod quietly.

"On my mark then!" The man bellows.

We all tense, weapons rising from resting position. Flames flicker from Miriel's fingertips as Virion nocks an arrow. Reflet settles into a low stance, eyes narrowed. Only Fredrick seem calm, sitting upright in the saddle with his silver lance shining in the torchlight.

"BEGIN!"

Virion lets an arrow fly, and the fight is on. The enemy mages instantly send a flurry of thunderbolts our way, which I am forced to duck. A few glance off Fredrick's armor, and Reflet bodies one spell with only a minor flinch.

The armor knights stomp forward, Marth and the other sword wielder (a man with a curved sword, a Killing Edge) saunter in behind them. The soldier stands just behind them, javelin at the ready.

Fredrick takes initiative and urges his horse forward. With myself and Reflet in tow, he smashes hard into the first knight. His lance leaves a sizable dent in the tower shield. Reflet and I focus on the other knight, though Reflet does most of the work. Her axe threatens to cleave the knight's spear in two, forcing him to block constantly against the axe carving deep gouges in the metal of his shield. Falchion snakes across the armor, trying to find an opening to exploit, but only managing to nick the tough plating.

Virion and Mirel are engaged in a delicate dance with the enemy mages, and they trade shots over our heads. The roar of fire and whistle of arrows is nerve-wracking, resembling a true battlefield.

Marth takes a dash forward to jab at me when I make another attack on the knight, and then dances away before I can retaliate. The other swordsman pesters Fredrick, trying to stop him from backing away for another charge.

Robin has snuck around the back of the enemy line, and is currently dueling with the soldier. Despite my initial thought that Robin would stomp him easily, the soldier holds up remarkably well, displaying some impressive lancework.

All semblance of order quickly dissolves when a fireball explodes in the center of us, scattering the combatants. I'm down for only a moment before Fredrick hauls me off the floor and onto his horse.

From my vantage point, I can see Reflet baring down on one of the armored knights. Reflet seems to have lost her weapon though, and instead grapples the knight's lance, wrenching it from his grip. Rather than use it, she tosses it aside and focuses on knocking the knight over. When that happens, she plants herself on top of their chest and digs her fingers into the helmet, finds a groove, and starts prying it open with brute strength.

Of course, I'm not the only one to notice this. The swordsman is approaching from behind, and myself and Fredrick charge the man.

His sword flashes, keeping us at bay. His eyes narrow as he focuses on us, leaving his teammate at Reflet's mercy. I dismount carefully, keeping my sword between us.

"Surrender." I offer. "We have you outnumbered."

The man huffs. "What sort of warrior would I be if that was enough to dissuade me?"

"Well spoken!" I chuckle. "However, we won't go easy on you!"

He silently levels his sword at me.

"Have at you!" Fredrick shouts, spurring his mare forwards. His lance stabs the air where the man's head was a second ago, but he's already on the move. His speed is incredible, and the number of attacks he throws out rapidly pushes us away from his teammates.

A strike lands on my unprotected shoulder, and then one on my leg. Even Fredrick suffers a wound, the trickle of blood from his wrist a testament to the swordsman's aim. It's no small feat to hit between the small chinks in a knight's armor, especially around the wrist which is in constant motion.

Despite his efforts, the swordsman is eventually caught out by one of Fredrick's wide swings. The shaft of the weapon hits the ducking man on the head, staggering him, and I smash Falchion's hilt into his stomach, dropping him to the floor.

"Surrender." I repeat, holding Falchion to his. Fredrick picks up the man's weapon, which had fallen from his grip, and tosses it out of the ring.

"I- I yield." The man gasps, still recovering from my blow. "I a-am bested."

The man hauls himself off the field, still winded, and we turn back to the figh-

"Chrom!" Lissa calls, running from the other knight.

"Lissa!" I call back. Gods, I forgot all about her! What sort of brother am I?

"I'll get her Milord." Fredrick grunts, "you go aid Robin." He spurs his horse on and barrels to my sister's rescue.

I turn my attention to Robin, who is clearly having difficulty against the soldier. I'm surprised they're still fighting, I thought Robin would have beaten her by now. Just beyond them, I can see Reflet facing off against a very panicked Marth who is staying far out of her reach while simultaneously dodging fire from Virion.

"Well, you're certainly a _sharp_ fighter! You're certainly making your _point_!" Robin jokes, backpedaling from the soldier. "Certainly got a lot of _spear_ it!"

"I get it, yah like yer puns!" a rough, but distinctly female voice shouts. "But would ye stop prancin' around already, or at least surrender? I got ot'er people to beat!"

"Just let me check with Chrom here, and I'll get back to you." The tactician jests, smirking as I dash up behind her. To the soldier's credit, she reacts fast enough to block my sword with the shaft of her spear, but Falchion cuts right through the wood.

"Oh really? Come on! I was winnin'!" The girl complains, throwing her hands up in the air. "Fine, fine, I give up!"

"Yeah, I hope I made my _point_!" Robin cackles.

"You already used that 'un!" The girl calls, walking out of the ring.

"And it's just as good as it was before!" The tactician hollers.

"Focus Robin." I say curtly. "Still a fight going on."

"Right, right." He nods rapidly. "Target… mage! You go help sis!"

Robin dashes off to help Miriel pester the mage, and I move over to 'help' Reflet. I say help, but she's doing perfectly fine on her own. With Fredrick freed up after helping Lissa, he, Reflet, and Virion are easily backing Marth to the edge of the ring.

I run in, just as a symbolic effort more than anything, and swing at the outmatched swordsman. He frantically ducks under my attack, and barely gets his sword up in time to block a strike from Reflet. A stab from Fredrick forces rapid backpedaling, and an arrow from Virion makes him duck.

Eventually Marth tires, and he gasps out a surrender with Reflet's axe at his neck. Miriel and Robin walk over, having also defeated their foe.

"Everyone fine?" I ask, glancing about. Lissa has her staff out, healing some minor burns for Miriel, but everyone else seems mostly unharmed.

"Hah! See that Oaf? I _win_!" Flavia cackles from her seat in the stands. It catches my ear, and now that I'm paying attention I can hear the loud cheering and chanting from the crowd.

"The match is won!" The large man yells. He has a rather irritated expression of his face as he calls out "East Khan wins!"

MARTH

Naga's blood, that was horrible! How could I have been beaten so easily? Lady Reflet and Fredrick are just as terrifying as the stories said, and this isn't even the height of their power! I also should have known better than to try and dual Lady Reflet, that's her specialty after all…

"East Champions was a doozy this time." Narna sighs from her position on the bench. Her spear, returned after the match, is on her lap, and she's in the process of doing maintenance. "That pleg'an boy was a real challenge."

"We are disgraces to Basilio's name…" Lon'qu murmurs. His head is low in contemplation and defeat as he broods.

"Oh, enough of that." Basilio himself says, striding into the little waiting room. "You all did fine! Put up a good fight! Flavia just got herself a nice team this time. You didn't have enough time to practice together!"

"That is no excuse for my incomp-"

"Hah! Hard on yourself as ever I see!" The man laughs, slapping the poor mymidon on the back. "If you're so hell bent on improving yourself though, I got a request for you!"

Lon'qu raises his head, now interested.

"I want you to go with the Shepherds, that team you just lost to. They're actually the Prince's personal squad, and they're gonna be going up Plegia real soon."

"If you command it." The swordsman says stoically.

"Well I do then! It'll help you improve, you've learned about all you can from this old man!" Basilio laughs again.

"Oye! How come 'e gets to go?!" Narna complains. "I just get to sit on the sidelines?!"

The large man blinks. "I didn't think you'd be interested. Besides, you have duty to the army, don't you?"

"Well yeah, but I'm could be o' use to them! Plus, I ain't gettin' much better here! It's all drills an' nothin' good to fight!" Narna argues. She's not exactly wrong after all. There's only the odd bandit group or a pack of Risen, and having an entire squad of fifty men by your side makes those odds rather trivial. "C'mon, I'm one o' the best! If they an elite squad, I'd fit right in!"

"Hah! I can hardly say no to that! I'll have a chat with your commander and get you reassigned."

"Thank yah Khan Basilio!" The girl does a hasty bow from the waist.

"Now, you two come with me. I think introductions are in order." The man says, motioning for them to follow.

"Right now?" Lon'qu asks, surprised.

"Of course! What better time than after they've seen you fight like a demon?" The large man laughs. He stomps out of the room with the two new Shepherds in tow.

" _It's so odd to see the other side of this story._ " I think, smiling a bit. " _I never thought to ask what it was like for Lon'qu to be assigned to the group, and Narna too…_ "

As much as I'd like to stay around though, I should be on my way. The Shepherds will leave tomorrow, and I want to be ahead of them getting back to Ylisstol. I need to make sure everything stays on track.


End file.
